Unal scores twice but late Redknapp goal sees Cherries dev squad beaten by Brentford

ENES Unal scored twice for the Cherries development squad as Alan Connell’s side were beaten 3-2 by Brentford in the Professional Development League.

Unal started the game at the performance centre and the Turkish striker completed his brace before the interval.

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His first came after just five minutes when he pressed the keeper and his block diverted the ball into the back of the net.

The Bees drew themselves back onto level terms just a minute later, though, through Luca Picotto, but Unal restored the Cherries advantage with 29 minutes on the clock.

Enes Unal. (Image: Richard Crease)

He rose to head into the bottom corner from a brilliant Finn Tonks cross to give Bournemouth the 2-1 lead at the break, before Unal was replaced after an hour by Eugene Nyarko.

But Ethan Laidlaw equalised from a free kick shortly after the hour mark, and the Bees snatched the victory at the death through Beau Redknapp, son of Jamie, as he fired home having come off the bench.

Connell told afcb.co.uk after the game: “A really good game which we knew it would be. We always have some really good contests against Brentford.

“In the first half we were pleased with how it went. We created chances but had to respect the opposition at certain times as well with their quality.

“We were pleased to go in with the lead but we knew the second half was going to be difficult. We had big, big chances to kill the game. When it went to 2-2, we had big chances to win the game but we didn’t take them.

Enes Unal. (Image: Richard Crease)

“It’s obvious if you don’t take those big chances, you can get punished and that’s what happened in the last minute. We made a poor decision and got punished.”

The development squad boss praised Unal, too, and said: “Enes trained with us yesterday in preparation for the game.

“As always when we’ve had Enes, his attitude has been excellent. He wanted to play and hopefully the 60 minutes will be beneficial to him. I’m sure he will take a lot of confidence from the two goals he scored.

“There were certain things he did in the game and even in training, linking with Jonny Day, it was an invaluable experience.

“That’s what we are here for, to develop players and help our first-team players that maybe need some top-up minutes.”

The Cherries currently sit fourth in the Professional Development League.