ACADEMY manager Joe Roach insisted there was still room for improvement after watching Cherries register a fourth successive Youth Alliance victory on Saturday.

Goals from Matty Neale and Sam Surridge saw Cherries come from behind to claim a 2-1 win against South West divisional rivals Exeter at the Grecians’ Cat and Fiddle training ground.

Neale fired home from a tight angle just seconds after Exeter had taken the lead from a disputed penalty before Surridge grabbed the winner on 29 minutes.

Victory – which avenged a 1-0 home defeat by Exeter in August – saw Cherries join Swindon on 21 points at the top of the table, with the Robins leading the way by virtue of a marginally better goal difference.

Roach told the Daily Echo: “Exeter are a good footballing side and want to play the right way. The pitch was quite narrow and didn’t really help us. We had a bit of a problem dealing with the way we wanted to play because it was a little restricted so we didn’t have the width we would have liked.

“Although we won, I thought we were just a little off it. We spoke to the lads beforehand and said we hadn’t really hit the heights and produced a complete team performance even though we had been winning games.

“We are trying to establish the way we like to play and are trying to get the lads to take on board the coaching programme we have put in place this season. We change the emphasis every four weeks and they have done really well as a team to take it on board.

“But I still think we need to come back to enforcing our playing philosophy a bit more which I think will come. Although they did very well to focus on what they were doing, sometimes, they forgot about the basic product which is our playing philosophy.

“To develop further, we need to play with quality and pass the ball well. We did that in parts but not as much as we would have liked. But if you want the lads to learn how to win games at this age then they have certainly done that in the past four games.”

Ollie Harfield and Matt Worthington linked well on the left to create an opening for Neale to level after Exeter had taken the lead from a penalty, with Cherries claiming the foul had taken place outside of the 18-yard box.

Roach added: “We had some good chances in the second half but were just a bit rushed in the attacking third. We need to be a bit more composed and try to build the attack a little better. That is the missing link at the moment.”

Cherries: Stanton, Lee, Jordan, Randall, Harfield, O’Sullivan, Butcher, Neale (Cook, 84), Worthington, Surridge (Cordner, 82), Quigley (Millar, 70).

  • Cherries host Bristol Rovers at Canford School this Saturday (10.30am kick-off).