ASSISTANT manager Richard O'Kelly played down Cherries reserves' defeat at Swindon insisting "the result was not important." (Sept 11)

Cherries fielded almost a full-strength first-team side for the reserve clash at the County Ground and looked on course for victory when Dani Rodrigues headed home in the first-half to give his side the lead.

But although two goals from Swindon in the last 10 minutes gave them the victory, O'Kelly believes there were more important issues to worry about than the scoreline.

He told the Daily Echo: "We're really not worried about the result - not in the slightest - we got a lot of good things out of the game.

"We needed to work on a few things that we didn't do well last Saturday and with such a small squad there are not many opportunities to play 11 against 11.

"None of the players had a problem with playing - they all wanted to play and their professionalism was excellent."

Cherries looked bright for long periods but were unable to add to their solitary strike from the first 45 minutes.

"Our possession was good which was missing a little bit from Saturday and defensively we looked stronger as well."

O'Kelly also played down the risk of injury to an already-stretched squad. He said: "You are always a bit worried but they could just as easily trip over the kerb. If you get the opportunity to play a proper game and work on things, I think you should take it. All round, it was a useful exercise for us."