Dean Selvey was the first to admit Saturday’s 1-1 draw with AFC Wimbledon in the EFL Youth Alliance League South East division wasn’t pretty, but the point gained from “a war” with the Dons delighted the Under-18s coach.

Tobi Coker netted to give the young Bees a draw against the Dons on Saturday morning and Selvey lauded his side’s battling qualities at The Hive.

“It was pleasing at the weekend to see our boys battle,” Selvey said. “It was a real battle and one of those games where if you had paid some money to watch it you would probably ask for your money back.

“We can play the pretty stuff but it’s the bad part of the game we struggle with – it’s the real side of football you don’t see that often these days in Academy football. That’s what it was on Saturday – a war. 

“To come out of that sort of game with a 1-1 draw isn’t something we normally do. It was really pleasing to come out of that sort of game with a point.”

After shipping nine in their last two games, the Bees displayed a new-found defensive resolve and Selvey was encouraged by that element of his team’s performance too.

“It was a scrappy game,” he said. “It was two teams who are clearly in a developmental stage. We did a lot of work on our defensive work so when you see the score – one goal conceded – it was a very difficult game in respect of the fact they were very direct, the referee was very picky and bitty.

“We had to deal with lots of balls from wide areas, set pieces, corners, free kicks, long straight balls, long balls from wide areas. 

“We have done a lot of work on that recently, just getting our back four to be a little bit tighter as a unit, to win first and second balls and working on our midfield transition.”

You can watch the full video interview with Dean – in which he discusses Ephron Mason-Clark, looks ahead to next week and more – below: