Source: Bournemouth_Echo
Cherries: Bradbury believes youngsters can handle pressure
ELDER statesman Lee Bradbury believes Cherries' young squad can cope with the mental demands of League One. Bradbury himself endured a baptism of fire against lively Charlton winger Kyel Reid as Cherries opened their third tier campaign with a 1-0 defeat at the Valley on Saturday. In front of a vociferous 15,000-strong home support in South London, Cherries were caught cold as Akpo Sodje pounced for the only goal of the game after 22 minutes. Eddie Howe's men improved after the break, but, despite several opportunities to level |matters, set off for Dorset |with nothing to show for their efforts. Despite the nature of their first-half performance, though, Bradbury denied that boss Howe's youthful side had been too wide-eyed about lining up in the Addicks' sprawling stadium. The 35-year-old full-back told the Echo: We didn't start very well and they had a big crowd behind them. It's always difficult coming to places like this, but I feel we are more than capable of dealing with it and I think we showed that in the second half. We have to learn from it, because we've got a lot of lads who haven't played at this level before, but I'm sure we will learn from it. They aren't fazed about playing in front of big crowds and they are quick learners. Charlton took it to us for the first half-an-hour and we were disappointed because we know we can do better. n Saints boss Alan Pardew hopes goal ace Rickie Lambert will be back in action for Saturday's trip to MK Dons. The club's star hitman was forced to watch the defeat to Plymouth from the stands, due to a groin injury. Lambert also looks set to sit out tomorrow's visit of Cherries in the first round of the Carling Cup. Pardew said: He's not too far away. We couldn't take a risk, but we might see him at MK Dons I think.