I know that there’s a lot of furore around Di Canio – but a
man who brings colour to the game, welcomes flak from the opposition
supporters to take it away from his
team, stands in the rain, wears his passion on his sleeve and ALWAYS applauds
his own fans – what’s not to like?
Conditions were awful. Now I’ve only seen Swindon once, at
their place, where they took us apart piece by piece – it was a humbling day. I
remember them being free flowing with lots of passing – so I was surprised by
what I saw.
I’ve never seen so many high balls and flick-ons. My only
guess is that Di Canio saw the rain, the heaviness of the pitch and so switched
to Plan B – keep the ball off the ground – well – I guess it showed he was
thinking
To be fair, the contradiction of styles between the short,
sharp passing of Bournemouth against the more direct play of Swindon was a joy
to watch – I know there were no neutrals in the ground but if there were they
would have thoroughly enjoyed a first half of end to end play.
In the opening 3 minutes O’Kane had a shot go narrowly wide
and James was forced into a smart tip-over save. End to End
Despite the conditions Bournemouth were having the better of
it but on 21 minutes there was an indication of things to come as James slid
out to get yet another long ball – and just kept on sliding.
Bambi on ice springs to mind, but at least he did have the
presence of mind to let go of the ball as he went out of the area – sure it did
send us into a bit of a panic which was rapidly cleared but all was forgotten 4
minutes later.
Pitman found the ball at his feet in the area, he twisted
and shot and the ball appeared to hit a defender’s hand – as some appealed for
that, the ball ran out to Francis who skied a cross so high the ball came down
with ice on it. Headed clear to Arter, he moved the ball to the left and
smacked it into the right of the goal, past the diving keeper.
Bournemouth were now taking control but despite this, the
teams should have been level 10 minutes later. A slippery ball and mix up
between keeper and defenders resulted in their no 9, Collins, (I don’t normally
name but this deserves it) having the ball 8 yards out, in front of an open
goal. Instead of passing it in, he blazed it high and wide – to be fair, it
still makes me laugh now
HT 1-0
Second half was delayed as the pitch was inspected – most
thought it would be called off as there was standing water everywhere. But,
much to the groundsmen’s credit, it went ahead – but the spectacle of the first
half was diminished – for me, the pitch just wasn’t good enough.
Despite the ever worsening pitch suiting the Swindon game
plan, Bournemouth still created and had Arter elected to elevate the ball
instead of hitting it with the outstep of his left boot along the ground when
through 1 on 1, we could have doubled the lead within 3 minutes of the restart.
On 65 minutes, a Swindon cross, was cleared and blasted back
by an on-rushing midfielder. James was committed to diving one way – the shot
was going the other. Somehow, and I’m still not sure how, he managed to stretch
his legs out and get sufficient on it to knock it away – a classy save.
Chances came at both ends now with Swindon coming into it
more as the conditions worsened. We thought though, that we were going to hold
on to 3 vital points until 5 minutes from time. James slipped as he took a free
kick, the ball went straight to the opposition who headed it into the middle to
a colleague. James managed to slide tackle him but the ball ran free and was
passed into an empty net from 25 yards.
Cook looked like he’d saved the day on the line but conditions played their part again as it skidded past his despairing dive
Summary – It’s always galling when you concede late on in
the game but for me a draw was probably a fair result. Some other thoughts –
Thomas’ body language was awful – this was his shop window, if he doesn’t want
to be here – why would he not want to show more? And what does it do to Tubbs’
confidence? Secondly, we need to practise taking corners because we cannot
afford to have dead wood in the side whose only real input is that – I’m
talking Pitman who for me just wasn’t at the races. Anyway, why would any team
not want their “goal-scorer” in the box for corners? Makes no sense to me.
Finally – Di Canio broke the dugout – he’ll pay for it out of his own money I
reckon – move on
Star Player – James – 2 or 3 crucial saves and coped well
with the slippery ball – well enough for me to say that the 85th
minute slip could have happened to anyone
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