AFC Bournemouth U18s were defeated by Swansea despite a strong performance in an action-packed Professional Development League Cup encounter on Saturday
The Young Cherries side tried to grab the bull by the horns early on, left back Malachi Ogunleye with the first big chance 12 minutes in as he forced Swansea's keeper and captain Ewan Griffiths into action.
Bournemouth were playing the same way the first team does, a fast possession-based game but the conditions were not ideal with heavy rain before kick-off leading to the ball being held up and slowed down with every pass.
However, this didn’t stop the hosts from getting their second big chance a shot from distance from Karlos Gregory again putting Griffiths to work.
Gregory would have another good chance the Swansea 'keeper, Ewan Griffiths, got down low to make the save. It was all Bournemouth, but the final product was clearly missing.
What was arguably the best chance of the first half came from Johnny Stuttle as his shot from around the penalty area was beating the keeper if not for a last-ditch block as a Swansea player was there to slide in and make the block.
Soon after the swans had a chance, the Cherries keeper Noah Crisp couldn’t get full control of a Swansea shot and Thomas Woodward slid in to put the rebound away and Swansea had taken the lead against the run of play.
The second half started the same way the first did as Bournemouth were on the hunt for a much-needed equaliser and Karlos Gregory’s chance after 49 minutes made Ewan Griffiths pull off another great stop.
Shortly after Swansea could have killed it off with the opportunity to double the lead but last-ditch defending from Harold William gave his side a lifeline.
Bournemouth had their lifeline, but they still needed to find some goals from somewhere, unfortunately for them, Ewan Griffiths was on fire and on 58 minutes his double save following an onslaught of pressure backed this claim up.
Four minutes later he delivered again as Bournemouth had a chance at the near post, but he made himself big and took it in the face to deny the leveller.
It just wasn’t to be as in the closing stages the Cherries hit the Post and on 84 minutes Johnny Stuttle squandered a one-on-one with plenty of time and space, putting it over the bar.
As the game was reaching its conclusion, a high foot, studs-up challenge from Swansea right back Jack Fanning saw him receive a straight red, with four minutes of stoppage time, the chance for Bournemouth to at minimum gain a point was still alive.
This led to another onslaught of pressure as Bournemouth tried to take advantage of their extra man until Bournemouth right back, Jack Holman, dived in the box, already on a booking he was given his marching orders with his second yellow card leading to a red.
Swansea held on to get the 3 points and make it two wins from two in the Professional Development League Cup.
Speaking to AFC Bournemouth U18s Assistant Boss and ex-Cherries, Norwich, Wolves and Southampton midfielder Andrew Surman post-match, he believed “The players applied themselves well, I thought the performance was excellent, individually and as a Team. I don’t think we got the result we deserved”.
Surman who has made 149 Appearances for the Cherries and 144 career Premier League appearances was full of praise for the Swansea defence. “I thought they all defended really well (Swansea) They put their bodies on the line and did some great emergency defending”.