Charlton's U21s suffered a 4-0 defeat against Bournemouth on Tuesday evening in their opening Premier League Cup fixture.
Braces from Balraj Landa and Daniel Adu-Adjei saw the visitors come out triumphant at Princes Park.
The Cherries took the lead early on through Adu-Adjei, who stole possession and found himself one-on-one with Henry Molyneux. The goalkeeper raced off his line to close him down, however the forward showed great technique to lift the ball over the shotstopper and put his side ahead on eight minutes.
The young Addicks had a chance to restore parity nine minutes later when Harvey Kedwell let fly from distance, but his thunderous effort was repelled by the visitors' goalkeeper. Henry Rylah’s close-range volley drifted wide shortly after.
Bournemouth netted their second of the evening midway through the first half, with Landa converting from inside the penalty area following a neat passage of play from the Cherries.
Charlton responded well and countered with efficiency just moments later. Rylah sent a drilled cross towards Tolu Ladapo at the back post who controlled the ball with ease and got a shot away from close range, though Cameron Plain was there to deny the winger with a superb stop.
Shortly after the interval, Bournemouth scored their third and Landa claimed his brace. The ball was played across to the forward who rounded Molyneux and tapped into an empty net on 56 minutes.
The Cherries added their fourth sixth minutes later. Dominic Sadi received the ball out on the left-hand side of the box and his curling effort was well saved by Molyneux, but the ball was kept alive by Finn Tonks. The full-back teed up Adu-Adjei who slotted in from the edge of the six-yard box to secure the win for the away side.
Chris Lock's side face Bournemouth again on Tuesday, September 26th, this time in Professional Development League Two - South action.
Charlton: Molyneux; Watson (Casey 65), Elerewe (c) (Gough 22’), Laqeretabua (Hand 73), Bower (Roddy 65’); Kedwell, Chin, Adigun; Rylah, Kanu, Ladapo
Subs (not used): Adegoke
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(Match report by Alex Forrest)
