Midfielder Shandon Baptiste took a big step towards a first team return this afternoon as he came through 60 minutes of an under 23s game away at AFC Bournemouth.
Shandon has been out of action since January after suffering knee ligament damage away at Brentford in the FA Cup. A summer of hard work paid off today when he came through an hour of a very competitive friendly which the Cherries won 3-0.
Coach Chris Allen told us
“We are all pleased for Shandon because he has stayed so positive and been so desperate to get back out there. The plan was always to ease him back in and to play an hour today and he did OK. There were a couple of tough challenges but he didn’t shy away from them and that will do him the world of good.
“Obviously with the first team in action tonight we don’t want to list the whole team that played but it was a very young side, most of them making their way up from under 18s to the under 23 side and they were beaten by three set pieces from a talented Bournemouth side.
“No complaints and plenty of positives with the main one being Shandon getting back on the pitch and playing again.”