ALAN Connell was pleased to see his young charges return to winning ways with a clean sheet – but the former Cherries striker still earmarked areas of improvement for the under-18s.

Cherries arrested a run of three defeats in a row with a convincing 4-0 victory over Cheltenham at Canford Arena, with goals from Baylin Johnson, Lewis Brown, Jonny Stuttle and Remy Rees-Dottin more than enough to separate the two sides.

Reflecting on the contest, under-18s boss Connell told the Daily Echo: “We're pleased with a clean sheet and the boys are always desperate to keep that, whether it is training or in games.

“We were relatively sound, Cheltenham had two or three opportunities and there were moments I felt we could have defended it better.

“I'd like to see us be a little bit more ruthless in our defending.

“We let them get in our final third too much.

“Second half, I thought we were a little bit passive, which gave Cheltenham a foothold in the game, albeit, obviously with the score line being as it was we were relatively comfortable at that stage.

“But overall, quite pleased. But as I said to the players, there’s still lots of room for improvement and got to keep searching for that every day.”

When Cheltenham found themselves beyond the Cherries defence there was still one hurdle they couldn’t clear, with goalkeeper Ollie Camis stepping up with some big saves in both halves to preserve his side’s clean sheet.

Discussing the Welsh youth international, Connell mentioned: “There was two really good saves in the first half, wasn't there?

“After we had taken the three goal lead.

“Big saves, which is something he is capable of, but something that he needs to keep developing.

“He produced two saves that kept the scoreline as it was.”