SEVENTEEN-year-old rookie Jonathan Watt took the plaudits for bagging a brace as Bournemouth Poppies fought back to beat Alresford Town 3-1 on Tuesday night.

West Howe youngster Watt was plucked from Dorset Premier League football and made his home debut as the Poppies dominated early on, but fell behind to Mike McEnery’s close range strike on the stroke of half-time.

Poppies soon raised the tempo and equalised through Watt’s far-post header on 68 minutes before Max Cream thrashed a loose ball home from 20 yards shortly afterwards.

Watt’s smart turn and finish 12 minutes from time sealed the points and a memorable evening for the young star, who told the Echo: “When I scored the first goal I was going to celebrate, but I didn’t know what to do, it shocked me!

“It felt great – I raised my game in the second half and, luckily, I got the two goals.

“When you are surrounded by better players, you have to do things a lot quicker than you normally would do – the lads have been really friendly with me and, hopefully, I can play more Wessex League football for Poppies.”

Watt’s manager Kenny Vaughan said: “He just went for it and I was really proud of him – he was unlucky not to get his hat-trick at the end there and I’m not sure he could have bettered that as a home debut.”

Vaughan added that he hoped to have a couple of new faces in the squad for tonight’s clash with Totton and Eling at Victoria Park (7.45pm).

Poppies: Frampton, Crow, Jackson, Byrne, Crutcher (c), Watt, Ingram, Cream, Ewen, Saadi, Swann. Unused subs: Mas, Mena, Phillipson-Masters, Taylor, Vaughan (g/k).