ALAN Connell says it was a “good day” for Tyler Adams as he assessed the midfielder’s return to action after injury.

Adams, a £23million arrival from Leeds United last summer, has featured just once for Cherries’ first team this season, due to hamstring issues.

After a more than five-month lay-off, the USA international got his first minutes of match action last week, featuring for Cherries’ development squad.

The 25-year-old started the contest, playing for half an hour before being substituted as planned as the club’s training ground, in a 5-0 win over Colchester United in the Professional Development League.

Asked what it was like having Adams with his young squad, Connell told afcbTV: “Tyler is a lovely lad. Just from seeing him around the building every day, he’s very humble and very hard-working.

“Obviously he was probably our marquee signing last summer, so it was great to have him train with us and you could just tell straightaway he wanted to train well, get back and play some competitive football.

“It was great for our players to play with such a talent and such a big player, captain of the US national team as well.

“So it was great experience, especially for Lewis Brown playing next to him in midfield.

“Tyler came through it and looked fine, made some good passes and intercepted well.

“Hopefully it was a good day for him. It seemed that way and hopefully he can get back out there for our first team soon.”

Adams was then named on the bench for the first team on Saturday, but was an unused substitute in a 2-2 Premier League draw with Sheffield United.

The midfielder will hope to get his first top-flight minutes in over a year when Cherries welcome Luton Town to Vitality Stadium on Wednesday (7.30pm).