Alan Connell on development squad reaching playoff final
THE After defeating Burnley 4–3 to go to the Professional Development League final, Cherries will need to grow
from a subpar final ten minutes, according to manager Alan Connell.
Connell was happy with a lot of Bournemouth’s performance against the Clarets, as they led 4-1 in the second half
despite falling behind within the first three minutes.
Although the Cherries managed to hold on and earn a meeting with Brentford in the final, the visitors to the Vitality
Stadium scored two late goals to make the finish nerve-racking.
“Very happy to be in the final, very happy with a lot of our play tonight, but I didn’t like the way we ended the game,”
Connell told the Daily Echo following Monday night’s game.
“It ought to have been more cosy.
Once more, Burnley deserves praise for surviving the match and scoring some excellent goals in the closing minutes.
sure the players know it.
“In first team careers, these big games are about getting through.
“There is a big occasion, a big game against a great Brentford team, so if we are preparing our players for that, they
need to learn those lessons.”
Despite losing by a goal early on, Connell claimed he “didn’t mind” his team’s start and that the team’s recovery was
commendable.
Before the game, he stated, “We talked about the last 13 games in particular. We’ve had to deal with a lot of different
scenarios and the jeopardy that comes with every football game. To get over line in all those games has been
remarkable.”
“And tonight we went down behind early, which has happened before to us, responded brilliantly in that middle
period of the game.
“I felt quite calm. I felt like our press was something that could disrupt them, which it did, obviously with their own
goal.
“After that, we scored a few goals that opened up the pitch, and our running ability and talent meant that we clearly
took a commanding lead. As I say, it was a bad game for us, but we barely won. However, there are lessons to be
learnt.
According to Connell, the team was “shook” by the two late goals, but they bounced back to win the match.
“We lacked energy, both the boys that came on and the boys that were staying on, went short on yards, didn’t get
tight enough to people when we did fall into like a lower, a deeper shape,” he stated when discussing what went
wrong in those final moments.
“To be fair, one of the goals is a great strike from their lad.
“But everything felt tough for us in that last few minutes and they’re the situations where players need to do what
they have done and continue to do if we want to be successful in the final against Brentford.”
He added: “When you make subs you want them to bring fresh energy and we’ve had that in all our games.
However, as I mentioned, we simply lost a few yards in terms of our running strength and our recovery runs.
“We have to make sure that we return to it.” Even though it’s a small matter tonight, it might have cost us.
Therefore, it serves as a helpful reminder to all of us that nothing should be taken for granted.
However, this 14-game winning streak is particularly noteworthy because anything may happen at any point during a
football game that could prevent you from winning. Thus, we have once more succeeded in finding a solution
tonight.
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