HOMEGROWN favourite Neil Moss believes Dan Thomas has the ability to become the latest young goalkeeping talent to graduate from Cherries’ youth ranks.

Former Cherries number one Moss, who was forced to retire during the summer by a persistent wrist injury, came through the club’s junior set-up before making it in the pro game.

He has already seen his protégé Ryan Pryce earn a full first-team contract and he thinks Thomas, another local lad, could be the latest success off the Cherries production line.

Former Saints stopper Moss was in the crowd on Tuesday night to see Thomas turn in a fine display, which almost kept Cherries’ under-18s in the FA Youth Cup, before Joe Roach’s side eventually lost 1-0 against Bristol Rovers.

And Barton-on-Sea-born Moss, who has coached Thomas in the club’s centre of excellence, was impressed with the promising young gloveman.

“He’s got every chance of going forward in the game,” Moss told the Echo.

“Like every other 16 or 17-year-old, he needs to carry on his work and he has things to improve, but certainly most people are happy with his progress.

“Without doubt he’s one for the future.

“It’s great for the club that you’ve got Prycey pushing in the first team and Dan behind him, and both have come through the centre of excellence.

“It will be an interesting decision for the manager (when Thomas finishes his scholarship) because I’m not sure if the club can carry three professional goalkeepers.”

Asked about Thomas’s attributes, Moss, who penned YTS forms with Cherries in 1991, said: “First and foremost people will notice how tall he is – he’s a bit taller than I am and he’s only 17.

“He’ll be a great height and he’s a great build as well.

“He kicks a good ball naturally, which I never did, so the things that are difficult to master he seems to already have in terms of distribution, and he’s got a good pair of hands.”

A fine performance from Thomas was not enough to save Cherries’ youngsters from a first round FA Youth Cup defeat on Tuesday.

Neikell Plummer, whose earlier penalty was kept out by Thomas, struck 13 minutes from time to seal a 1-0 win for Bristol Rovers.

Prior to the goal, the visitors found Thomas in excellent form as he also denied Jack McKenna on two occasions.

  • Log on to the Echo website from 2.45pm on Saturday as we blog live from Cherries' League Two clash at Accrington Stanley

We'll have all the action as it happens, plus you can interact with our man at the game LIVE by posting your real-time comments.

We'll also be running live web polls to get your views on the game as it unfolds.

The league game on Saturday is the second of our live commentaries, so log in and get involved in the discussion and banter with our reporter during the game.

Visit bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport from Saturday afternoon.