CHERRIES development squad head coach Alan Connell believes his side will learn from their heart-breaking late loss to Basingstoke in the Hampshire Senior Cup final but insisted that the “overriding emotion” was “huge disappointment”.

Despite creating multiple opportunities and enjoying a large share of possession, Cherries were unable to break the deadlock at Fratton Park, allowing Basingstoke to strike in injury time through Bradley Wilson when it looked like penalties would have to decide the tie.

Speaking to the club’s website, Connell shared: “It’s an experience.

“Right now, the players are suffering, and so they should.

“They should feel it. I am, the staff are. The players, we're trying to prepare them for first-team careers.

“(Basingstoke) was a first-team game in theory, where the result for the players should mean everything. But we never gave ourselves a good enough chance to win the game, because our performance wasn't quite at the level that I know we're capable of.

“And individually, we didn't quite handle probably the occasion as well as I would have liked, but they are the experiences that are only going to help the players.

“But in saying that right now, it's not the overriding emotion.

“The overriding emotion is obviously huge disappointment because it's a game that, whilst the development is a huge part, this is a game that we come here to win.

“And congratulations to Basingstoke, because they had some really good moments in the game and obviously got a well taken goal at the end, so congratulations to them.

“But we have to be a lot better than we showed tonight.”

Cherries were kept out on multiple occasions by Basingstoke goalkeeper Mark Scott, the shot stopper once on the books at Swindon Town whilst Connell played for the Robins’ first team.

“I think he's had a bad injury as well in recent years and he produced an incredible performance,” Connell restarted.

“So whilst I'm obviously not delighted with our performance, we've obviously created good chances and he's made some unbelievable saves.

“I think he won man of the match and deservedly so. Congratulations to him.

“But from our point of view, yeah, finishing has got to be better. We were too rushed in the final third, lacked composure, and that's obviously where games are won and lost in both boxes.

“We didn't do enough and didn't defend our box well enough as well at times tonight, which was a result of some of our defending. But overall, I think we had to defend our box more than we should have because we didn't keep the ball nowhere near enough.”