AFC Bouremnouth 3-1 Bristol Rovers
Saturday 17th October 2015Blake Davies scored a consolation goal for our Under-18 side in their 3-1 defeat at the hands of AFC Bournemouth on Saturday.
It was a game to forget for Alan Walsh’s side as they ended the match with only nine men following the red cards received by Connor Jones and Davies.
“Bournemouth,” said Alan, “were the better side even before either of the sendings off. We were up against it for most of the game and they were up for it more than us though I can’t explain why that was the case.
“We were very disappointing and didn’t show the work rate and effort which have been key elements of our play this season were, sadly, missing.
“Bournemouth dictated the game and although we rode our luck a few times in the opening half an hour it was no real surprise when they took the lead after 35 minutes.”
The first card of the game followed shortly afterwards; “Connor picked up a yellow card for kicking the ball away and just before the break he received a second yellow after misplacing a pass and lashing out, in frustration, at one of their players. He was fortunate not to receive a straight red, but his second yellow had the same effect and we were reduced to ten men.
“We decided to go with two banks of four after the break and leave Blake as the lone striker. It worked for a while, although Bournemouth enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but a second goal arrived just after the hour mark.
“When you are down to ten men you really need to keep the ball in the opposition half as much as possible, but unfortunately we didn’t always manage that. From one of our short goal kicks the ball was returned to our keeper and cleared just 20 yards upfield straight to a Bournemouth player who exchanged passes with a team mate and scored quite comfortably.
“That was shortly after the hour mark, but with 65 minutes on the clock Blake pulled a goal back after snapping up a ball from Lewis Ellington.
“Five minutes later, though, Blake’s rash challenge on a Bournemouth player resulted in him picking up a red card. It meant us playing the final 20 minutes or so with nine men and although we managed to keep a good defensive shape Bournemouth scored a third goal ten minutes from time to complete a disappointing day for us.”
Rovers: Charlie Phillips, Sam Blake, Sam Iles, Alfie Kilgour, Bradley Confrey (Lewis Leigh-Gilchrist, 60), Connor Jones, Lewis Ellington, George Corp (Dan Lammiman, 65), Blake Davies, Tyrone Tucker-Dixon (Sam Hedges, 75), Tom Fry
Substitutes: Kieran Hodges, Toby Rennie