John Piercy pressed his claims for a contract with a classy double as Albion Reserves beat Bournemouth 2-0 yesterday.

The former Tottenham Reserves captain, who has been training with Albion since being released by Spurs, produced two moments of magic to win the Avon Insurance Combination match at Lymington & New Milton.

Piercy, who played on the left side of midfield, gave Dean White's side a 14th-minute lead with a clinical finish from 12 yards after he chipped the ball over defender Tim Bond.

The former England Youth international doubled Albion's advantage four minutes after half-time, cleverly chipping Kevin Scriven from the left edge of the area after intercepting a pass by Bond 35 yards from goal.

Watched by a scout from Portsmouth, among others, Piercy was at the heart of most of Albion's best moments.

Two minutes before his second goal, he created a chance for Chris McPhee by slicing open the home defence, but the young striker dragged his shot wide of the far post.

Bournemouth twice went close to equalising in the first half. Will Packham did well to parry away a fierce shot by Amos Foyewa when the striker turned on the edge of the box. Then Foyewa hammered a 15-yard drive off a post and Chukki Eribenne blazed over from the rebound.

The Seagulls' young defence, including 16-year-old Chris Breach and three other products of the club's youth policy, comfortably snuffed out most of the Cherries' attacking threats.

This result moved Albion above Bournemouth and up to third in the Combination table.

Albion Reserves: Packham, Breach, Mayo, A.El-Abd, Virgo, Hammond, Piercy, Rogers, McPhee, Lee, C.Greatwich. Unused subs: Beck, Bryant, Bartholomew, Windsor, Budd.