AFC Bournemouth
Jake Adams' brilliant first-half free-kick claimed a 1-0 Merit League win for the under-18s over AFC Wimbledon on Saturday.
In a tight game of few chances, Adams had an early chance that the Wimbledon 'keeper tipped round the post, the same player later heading wide from Archie Harris' cross when well placed.
Half an hour in and the striker's set piece was then reversed skillfully into the top corner to open the scoring, Abdi Mohamed ensuring the home side went in ahead with a good block at the end of the first period.
The Cherries had a second disallowed in the second half for offside, Daniel Adu-Adjei just beyond the final defender with his run before finding the net.
With the wind against Bournemouth in the second half the home side had to repel balls into the box with Ollie Camis in goal dealing well with the shots he was asked to deal with.
In their six-game Merit League the Cherries have now won three of their four matches to date.
After the match manager Alan Connell spoke to afcb.co.uk about the performance and standout performers at Canford Arena.
"We expected a difficult game against Wimbledon and that's exactly what we got," he said. "They were competitive, carried a threat going forwards and were strong all over the pitch.
"We settled into the game quite quickly and got our forward players high up the pitch in dangerous areas.
"We took the lead through an excellent free-kick from Jake which gave us a well-deserved half time lead.
"We knew the second half would look very different because of the wind and credit to our boys because at times we passed the ball and played out under pressure well and created a few good openings without being able to apply the finishing touch.
"We had to withstand a bit of pressure from Wimbledon when they put balls in our box and I was really pleased that the whole team stood up to that test, we saw a different side of our game with that willingness to defend and work hard to keep the lead.
"It was a really good day all round, loads of challenges for the players and they stuck with them and in the end I thought we deserved to win the game.
"We had some players playing out position, for example Ferdinand Okoh played at centre-back for the first time, which was another challenge in his development.
"Jake Adams continued his fine form, he's been an example to the younger players in recent weeks and showed them the level and what it takes to be a youth team player at this club.
"I've been delighted with the way he's been playing and culminated today with another match winner, another good goal.
"The challenge for him and the rest of the squad from now is to finish the season as strongly as possible."
