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.”
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