Bournemouth boss Scott Parker backed his young guns to keep the Cherries firing despite striker Arnaut Danjuma’s departure after his side struck twice late on to win 2-0 at Birmingham.
Two strikes in the final 13 minutes from Dominic Solanke and Jaidon Anthony, the latter’s first senior goal, maintained Bournemouth’s fine start under Parker.
The Cherries manager confirmed after the game the club have accepted a bid from Europa League winners Villarreal for Danjuma, last season’s joint-top scorer.
But after watching a side featuring several players in their early twenties grind out an impressive victory at a Birmingham outfit that had not conceded this season, Parker was delighted.
He said: “We’re stretched at the moment but this group of young players have been nothing but first class.
“They have worked tirelessly the last eight to nine weeks and if you work hard, you reap rewards – they deserve to be sitting on seven points and they deserve two wins and a draw.
“A lot of these players are experiencing things for the first time in this league and they are doing a fantastic job.
“We’re trying our hardest to bring players in but saying that the players that are here, in those roles, have done fantastic as well.”
Parker reserved special praise for front two Solanke, who held off Marc Roberts to steer home a classy finish, and Anthony, who hooked home Zeno Ibsen Rossi’s knockdown to seal the points.
He added: “It was a bit of quality from Solanke – a great finish, an unbelievable finish. He’s still got a lot to do when he gets put in there.
“Jaidon’s done brilliant. I’ve got nothing but positive words to say about him, and there is still loads to come. He was on two assists before tonight and deserved his goal.”
Blues boss Lee Bowyer, meanwhile, felt Solanke’s opener should not have stood.
“It was handball, he nudged it with his arm in front of him,” Bowyer claimed.
“It’s disappointing because I think we deserved more than that. From start to finish, we made it difficult for them, they couldn’t break us down – but the first half-chance they got, they scored.
“The first half, we did really well, we moved the ball better, created some good chances, we were winning the ball in great areas and everything was going to plan apart from getting a goal.
“The players gave everything, they can’t do any more than they did. As a group we’re improving all the time and we showed that again tonight because some of our play was excellent.
“If they give the handball, I don’t think they score the second goal and I always feel we have a chance from a set-piece as we are a powerful side and might nick one.”
