Bournemouth boss Scott Parker hails ‘ultimate professional’ Emiliano Marcondes

Fulham v AFC Bournemouth – Sky Bet Championship – Craven Cottage
(Image credit: Adam Davy)

Bournemouth boss Scott Parker praised hat-trick hero Emiliano Marcondes after he fired the Sky Bet Championship side into the next round of the FA Cup.

The Danish midfielder opened the scoring against National League Yeovil in the 19th minute when he calmly fired past goalkeeper Dillon Barnes after being played in by skipper Chris Mepham’s long ball forward.

His second came two minutes before the break, Jaidon Anthony the provider on this occasion, before he completed his hat-trick midway through the second half after Barnes had parried Jamal Lowe’s initial effort.

Joe Quigley had thrown the Glovers a lifeline at the start of the second half after team-mate Tom Knowles had charged down a clearance from Bournemouth keeper Orjan Nyland.

“If there’s one thing that he is (Marcondes), it’s an ultimate professional and a team player,” Parker said. “He trains and works hard on a daily basis and the only reason he has scored three goals is because of the amount of work he does.

“I’m so pleased for him because he hasn’t got the game time over the last few months and it is a difficult decision for me every week – I have a good squad and I can only pick 11 players and six outfield subs. At times it has been difficult.

“I’m sure he’s disappointed not getting the game time but he’s committed to this team and understands the situation and works tirelessly.

“We knew they were going to cause us problems in certain areas with set-plays and I thought we dealt with that first half and then showed our quality in our moments to get the two goals.

“In the second half we gave them a goal, which was poor from us, and then they get their noses up with their fans getting a second gear as well. But we gained control again, got the third and saw out the game really well.”

Yeovil manager Darren Sarll said: “No-one ever backed down and no-one shied out of a challenge. We made it messy for them at times which was something we knew we had to do – we knew we had to try and ruffle it up a little bit.

“I thought it was an excellent performance in the second half and I thought in the first half we were very patient.

“The players showed great character. I thought they deserved the goal, deserved having that little bit of razz and hope going into that last bit, but it was a shame that their third goal broke all the momentum that we had built.”