COACH Stephen Purches felt his Cherries youngsters had learned a valuable lesson after Sam Matthews’ thunderbolt had salvaged a 3-2 victory at Sholing on Wednesday.

Cherries were in control after Aristide Bassele’s first-half penalty had been added to by Jayden Stockley’s crisp finish in the 48th minute.

The visitors spurned a number of openings to increase their lead with Stockley and Matthews pelting the frame of the goal before Sholing’s Alex Baldacchino halved the deficit when he netted with a sumptuous 25-yarder.

That briefly turned the tide and PJ McLean crashed home a late leveller for the hosts before Matthews’ late intervention settled the issue in stoppage time.

But despite his charges letting their two-goal cushion slip, Purches was pleased that Cherries stuck to the task.

Purches said: “It was frustrating because we pretty much dominated the second half.

"A goal out of nothing gave them a bit of momentum and they ended up getting the equaliser that overall, they probably didn’t deserve.

“The thing we’ll take from that is that 2-0 can be one of those vulnerable scorelines. The good thing was the boys stuck to what we wanted to do and Sam stuck in a great goal at the end.

“It was good for the players, it gave them a different scenario that they wouldn’t have been used to and the pleasing thing was that at 2-2 we carried on with what tried had tried to do all game and managed to finish it off.”