Griffiths, Maghoma and Clarke react to Bournemouth FA Youth Cup win

There was an air of satisfaction among our young players after Tuesday night’s FA Youth Cup victory at Bournemouth, as well as a determination to keep winning matches.

Goals either side of half-time from Reo Griffiths gave us a 2-0 lead at the Vitality Stadium before substitute Rayan Clarke added a third in stoppage time.

It means we’ll face the winners of tonight’s (Wednesday 17 January) fourth round tie between Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion at home in round five and the players felt the result gives them a big lift going forward. Here’s what they had to say…

Reo Griffiths (striker)

Thoughts on the match
“I thought the lads played well. It was a tough game, we didn’t score until late on in the first half, we worked well to get that goal and then went forward from there. It was quite frustrating for about 40 minutes but the boys did well, we kept moving the ball about and I ended up getting a little opening from a corner so that was good.”

On timing of his goals
“The first goal was massive just before half-time because it changes the team talk and changed the way we played in the second half. We knew they were going to come out strong but the second goal was massive as well because it gave us a bit of a cushion, they had to go forward from there which left space and that’s why we got the third goal.”

Was there pressure to score after latching onto a defensive error for 2-0?
“To be fair, the defenders and the keeper got muddled up, there was a lot of pressure to finish it but I’ve done a lot of work in training so that helped me. I was very pleased for Rayan too. I think that was his first appearance in the Youth Cup and he came on, I thought he did well and obviously he got his goal so well done to him.”

Paris Maghoma (midfielder)

On the outcome
“It was very good, the whole team played very well, we stuck together and now we can celebrate together. It’s true that they came back into it a little bit in the first half but we stuck together and we got out of it. It was good timing with the first goal so we could go into half-time a little bit more secure and also we could come into the second half strongly as well. We had to focus after half-time, not let them have any counters, lock down the whole pitch and then just keep it moving and wait for our chances to come.”

On going close to scoring a couple of times
“I was a bit unlucky tonight but there’s always other opportunities to score goals so next time maybe I’ll get on the scoresheet. It was great to get the goals through Reo and he did well to chase it back up on the second one. To be fair, he’s been practicing in training and I think he deserves praise tonight for his two goals. It’s good for Rayan to come off the bench as well and show everyone what he’s about – beating players and scoring goals.”

On the draw for the fifth round
“I’m very positive about that. It doesn’t matter if we get Chelsea or West Brom, we’ve still got to have the same mentality that we had tonight and go into it the same.”

Rayan Clarke (wide attacker)

Thoughts on the team’s performance
“We started off strong, got a goal before half-time and then we started picking up in the second half. We worked on it in training and it worked well on the matchday. The finishing was great but that’s normal from Reo. It’s not luck – I’ve seen it in training, seen it in games so it doesn’t surprise me. I think he’s a great asset for us but we’ve got great back-up to him as well so we can still score goals across the team.”

On his stoppage-time strike
“It’s my first appearance in the competition so it was great to get a goal, especially because I didn’t have much time on the pitch so it was great to make an impact in a short amount of time. The off-side flag went up a couple of times against me as well but I’m sure that I will get more chances to score more goals. When I came on, I was told to make sure I’m alert on defensive works and when we’ve got the ball, get forward. That’s what I did and I was lucky to get a goal in the end.”