#afcb 0 v 2 #pusb

I think we will look back at tonight’s game and eventually realise that we owe Coventry City our thanks.

For tonight they showed that you don’t need to bully or fill your defence to get results away from home – what you do is look at the players you’ve got, decide what skills / attributes each player has then set up to play to your strengths.

To reiterate – don’t worry about what THEY can do – let them worry about you!!

EH made some changes for this game which raised a few eyebrows: Pugh not in the squad, Pitman dropped for Tubbs and Fletcher on the bench, 90 minutes too late

Coventry started the brighter after a lengthy delay for treatment, when Baker surged down the left sent 2 defenders the wrong way but then greedily shot wide instead of crossing.

This encouraged the Coventry fans, who were in fine voice, until a Ritchie cross from the left was smashed point blank by Tubbs for their keeper to make an amazing reaction save.

On 18 minutes O’Kane sprinted through the middle and a perfectly paced pass sent Grabban through. He controlled the ball, jinked past a defender but shot straight at the keeper.

As we all held our heads in our hands, a worse miss was to come a minute later. A woeful back header had Tubbs sprinting through one on one chasing a bouncing ball. The keeper was in no man’s land but instead of lobbing like we all expected, he elected to pass it past the keeper, and into the side netting.

Still, we were creating chances. For me the big difference was Fogden. With him on the pitch – he runs like crazy. That encourages others to do the same and before you know it, we’re winning balls back and giving the opposition no time on the ball – a little like Sheffield did to us.

We also had better movement up front which helped to create space – such a shame we don’t have a Leon Clarke to make use of the space

Jalal then went from hero to almost zero in the space of a couple of minutes. Firstly saving impressively against Moussa before almost letting Clarke take it off his feet as he took an age to clear a ball – a real “He’s behind you” moment

Then, in the 6 minutes of injury time, a ball was pumped up to Clarke. It was him against 2 defenders. Both defenders looked to each other to clear, both backed away, and let Clarke brush off one, run past the other and smash the ball past Jalal.

He’d threatened all half but such weak defending did make us wonder if Painter had relatives in the team

HT 0-1

The second half started and clearly Howe had read the riot act as the team came out with fire in their bellies.

The possession was all Bournemouth’s but we simply do not have any one on the team confident of striking for goal or a striker with any heading prowess which caused two problems:

1 We’d take so long messing about on the wings trying to get the perfect angle for the perfect cross that by the time it was sent in Coventry had regrouped, or

2 We’d open Coventry up, run at the goal, sometimes all the way to the six yard box but instead of going for goal we’d try to pick out an impossible pass – which would be cut out and cleared.

Either of these situations would then result in a Coventry break away and Jalal often had to be on his toes to repel such quick counter attacks.

That said – 16 goal attempts for Bournemouth shows that we had more than enough chances to bury this game, but in all honesty we just never looked like scoring.

On 83 minutes one such Coventry attack had the ball sent down the right. A cross was sent over towards Grabban. As it bounced the sneaky Coventry fans started whistling the theme tune to the Harlem Globe Trotters which bemused Grabban enough to slap the ball down, catch the rebound and shoot a 3 pointer from the D – well, not quite, but a clear penalty.

I’ve only seen Jalal save 1 penalty before, against Wigan, and even then the rebound was knocked in. No such suspense today as the pen was tucked away by the impressive Baker.

We still had time for Pitman to throw all his toys out of the pram as Arter insisted on taking a free-kick instead of him (clearly not the same understanding with Howe as for pens). Unfortunately for Arter he’ll probably hear about it all week as the ball struck row Z.

Summary – We still look shaky at the back without Elphick and Daniels and we don’t attack with enough speed or conviction to worry these better sides. We need our strikers to regain form and confidence else it won’t matter what starlets we have in the build-up – they will always be under pressure

Star Man – Ritchie – Looked much more comfortable at LB and especially in the first half fired in some excellent crosses that were unfortunately too good for the strikers

Extra thanks – to the 3 man Sherpa team that helped us get to and from the car – We’ll try to park a little closer next time…..

Impressive Away Support

East Stand surprisingly noisy

Main Stand - less so....

#afcb v #sufc

Last week, I watched a very poor Bournemouth performance – for me worse than under Groves. I then had to put up with patronising tweets from people who hadn’t just spent 5 ½ hours on a coach, and with no prospect of a further 5 ½ hours, saying “It’s just a blip, don’t worry”.

At the time it was too soon for that kind of pep talk, and my match report, written and posted on the coach journey back, reflected some of that anger.

I am, therefore, glad that this week, I had to drive home without being able to consult twitter and it has given me “some” perspective.

It would be very easy of me to say that this was possibly the worst ref we’ve had here, constantly getting decisions wrong and seemingly biased towards the away team. I could add that the linesman near the east stand offered no help, blind to all but a few cast iron throw in decisions.

I could also say that rarely have I seen an away side so blatantly cheat going down for “injuries” , bouncing back up as if given the kiss of life once they realised play hadn’t stopped and constant time wasting.

Boo bloody hoo

Refs come in all shapes, sizes and ability – it is how we deal with them that matters. As decision after decision didn’t go our way, the players reacted poorly, bringing their reaction into their football as frustrated pass after pass went astray

For the second point, are you telling me that if AFCB were 0-1 up away to league rivals you wouldn’t be cheering us running into the corners? Sure they took it further than I find comfortable but who am I to draw the line?

For me, the fact is we simply weren’t good enough.

There are 2 more things that I am convinced of:

1 The Sheffield Utd DVD player is in full working order and they have used it to good effect by watching the Preston game

2 EVERY other team we are still to play will now be studying DVDs from BOTH these games to see how to play us.

They needn’t bother, I can tell them now:

1 Pressure each and every AFCB player with the ball – we don’t like it and will give the ball away

2 Pick a side with height and strength as AFCB are so easily bullied off the ball both in the air AND on the deck

3 Put all players behind the ball as we lack the creativity and movement to unpick a well drilled defence

4 If Painter is playing, attack down the right

It was Painter’s error that eventually separated the teams. A dubious free kick was awarded to Utd and the ball was fired up in the air to the left back position.

Having let it bounce once, we all waited for it to be planted up-field but no, Painter decided it needed another bounce to make sure. While he sent for his abacus and protractor to fully gauge what angle the ball needed to be before clearing, Murphy nipped in and hit a shot against the post. Luckily for him the ball rebounded straight back to him and he tucked it away nicely.

The rest of the half was shaded by Utd as they kept the ball well and worked tirelessly to get it back when lost.

My personal highlight was Shwan “The Distributor” Jalal took a quick free kick, booted it out for a Utd goal kick and then blamed everyone else – class

The second half started no better as Utd stifled AFCB and AFCB got increasingly desperate with wayward passing because of the lack of movement up front and no confidence in the munchkins running around in the middle.

Thankfully Painter was hauled off for Ritchie to return to the only position he’s played well in so far and both Pitman and Grabban were removed for Tubbs and Fraser.

I for one was glad that Pitman had gone after his dreadful over-reaction to being barged into – clutching his face like a petulant child. As much as I hated the Utd injury scams, this one incident was worse.

With Pugh/Ritchie on the left, Fraser/Francis we finally started to get some crosses in – but I ask you – what was the point?

Much as I was disappointed in Pitman, he’s the only man we had on offer that could head the ball. Cross after excellent cross was fired in but we could have played all day and all night and we still wouldn’t have scored

2 shots on target, all game, at home, tells you all you need to know

Summary – Sheffield Utd were a well drilled, experienced side that had a game plan and executed it perfectly. They stifled AFCB, soaked up what little pressure we exerted and snatched the goal that won the game. We are a good side when the play is open but only a foolish team would allow that to happen. We seem unable to unlock this puzzle and have no plan B when plan A isn’t working

Star Performer – Francis – Tireless up and down the wing and I hope in Fraser he finally gets some help in attack

#pne v #afcb

My first question for the day - why are all our away trips so far away?

Sat on the coach at 7am I'd already identified the man who had the annoying voice and the one who doesn't rub their hair gel in properly leaving a blue glob on the back of his head. As soon as I'd heard " I've got a breathing condition" countered with " so have I and I only have one lung" I knew that today of all days the pub and football had better be good. (Ps I bet my black cat is blacker than her black cat #competitive)

This was to be my only commentary on the journey - but then it happened. Someone finally bit back at the banana woman.

A yelp of despair went out as the coach pulled in for a second stop less than 10 miles away from Preston. Instead of empathising with the coach she aggressively shouted " the police have said we can't get there before 1" - one guy made a joke and she bellowed at him " say it to my face" - he responded calmly that he just did. It was both cringeworthy and triumphant at the same time.

So to the pub - The Sumners. It was a mixture of both home and away and the banter was lively. What pubs/locals don't enjoy a lot of strangers singing about a team they know nothing about.

Suitably buoyed we went to the stadium.

We'd already heard the team - Painter at left back, Ritchie on the right and 2 up front - surely the dream team.

No

This is my blog now - so I'll say it how I saw it.

From the first whistle to the last - it was absolute shit !!

Preston, with a point to prove to whoever will take over, were clearly up for the game and won every first, second and third ball

They were tenacious - like terriers snapping at your heals they never gave AFCB a second - and as they needed an hour it was always going to be a problem . Where players lacked finesse, they used brute force and absolutely bullied the back 4

Bournemouth (the dream team) on the other hand, played like they had never even met each other and had only just been introduced to the ball

Pass after pass alternated between shin and throat level until we were lucky enough to see the ball just hacked into the stands

Preston scored first on 19 minutes as the ball was moved from left to middle with at least 4 chances for AFCB to clear. They didn't and a shot from the edge of the box beat Jalal to his right.

The second was on 30 minutes when a corner bobbled in the 6 yard box. 5 AFCB players were up to the semi final of the paper-stone-scissors challenge to see whose turn I was to clear it when Preston grew impatient with the advert breaks and popped it in

Pugh then went off ???? and at first we tinkered with 1 up front then went 3-4-3 n a win or bust move

It was bust

I got up at 5 am on my day off and spent nearly £50 to travel 5 1/2 hours on a cramped coach and then sing as loud as I could for 90 minutes

I did my bit

Where were the players??

I don't expect us to win every game but I do expect to not be embarrassed sitting in a stadium

I sat through Crawley, Coventry and Swindon away under Groves and thought I could feel no lower about a performance

Today was poorer than all of these games

Recent wins have all had an element of luck - but they've been on the back of high, quick work-rate, skill and teamwork so I believed that the harder you work the luckier you get

Today, with the exception of MacDonald, the team will be lucky if the coach toilet doesn't overflow and drown the lot of them

One loss doesn't turn a good team into a bad one but I for one hope that Howe is hoarse by the end of the journey and the players have a mild case of tinnitus

Still, top of the league, we're having a laugh .....

Star Man - MacDonald - best of a poor bunch

Addendum - that wasn't the only fun on the coach. All of a sudden there was a huge commotion as someone smashed seven bells out of their portable DVD player

Eloise tried to step in with calming words such as "What the hell do you think you're doing?" To which he replied - the battery had died

The next 20 minutes was spent with Eloise explaining the virtues of just charging the battery again, as well as explaining how he could get his favourite film "bed knobs and broom sticks" onto his phone

It was like teaching a grandmother how to break dance - it was never going to work

Even now I don't believe she's convinced it was no more than a weird joke - with her at the unwitting dupe

#AFCB v #POMPEY

The day started poorly. I noticed that #pompey were 13/1 to win today – in a two horse race, surely that’s just ridiculous. To me it was a bad omen – surely karma would bite us on the arse. This bad feeling was quickly followed up by Blandford Phil promising to get the beers in, and then not doing so – yep the day was bad

When #pompey then turned us round for the start, I feared the worst

That said, what I hadn’t taken into consideration, though, was that Portsmouth had come to Dean Court with no intention of getting anything other than a 0-0 draw

They didn’t just park the bus but they left a tank up front that had the touch and subtlety of a 70’s celebrity desperately hoping that their wishes granted by Jimmy wouldn’t be front page news

Portsmouth mimicked Bournemouth’s pre match huddle but instead of the captain instilling a win at all costs message, his duty was merely to introduce everyone to each other

Bournemouth had ALL the possession as Portsmouth struggled to string 2 passes together but we had no cutting edge

I’m not sure what the stats say but apart from a Pitman header that hit the bar on 44 minutes , I can think of only 1 other time their keeper was called upon – it was on 36 minutes as a long ball found Grabban streaking ahead of a jaded defence.

He managed to round the keeper for the 3^rd time in 3 games but his final shot was difficult, from a difficult angle and in truth never threatened the goal.

Don’t get me wrong, Portsmouth were REALLY poor. I’ve never seen our midfield have so much time on the ball. Trouble is our attack just didn’t move enough.

Time and time again we passed sideways because there was NO outlet forward. I’m all for keeping the ball if there’s nowhere to go but at this pace even the poorly drilled Portsmouth were able to foil the feeble attacks.

I just couldn’t see us scoring but to be fair nor could I see them scoring so a boring 0-0 scoreline looked inevitable

At half time Howe realised that the free football boots donated by Di Canio enterprises had been fitted with lead lined studs by “accident” and were replaced by a more lightweight compound

Second half Bournemouth were much brighter and attacked with more intent. For 10 minutes crosses were fired in from all angles but we just couldn’t seem to get on the end of them.

Then came 5 minutes of Portsmouth pressure, culminating in a smart save from Jalal, tipping the ball over the bar from a long distance shot

From the corner, Bournemouth quickly broke and the ball went down the right. A cross from Mcquoid found Grabban in the box. I started and completed today’s Sudoku challenge as Grabban  finally managed to control the ball before he fired it expertly past the keeper’s outstretched right hand.

The cheer was huge – more in relief than pleasure but it was what we and the team needed. Portsmouth, bereft of ideas, dropped their heads and there was now only 1 possible winner.

This was confirmed 15 minutes later as a poorly headed clearance dropped towards Pitman.  I, like the rest of the crowd, and the Portsmouth team, assumed that because it didn’t actually fall at his feet , he probably wouldn’t bother

How wrong could we be. He quickly turned his body and with an overhead kick put Pugh through one on one. On Pugh ran and slotted coolly past the keeper

2-0 – game over

I just wanted now to give special mention to the #pompey crowd – they were superb. Sure, I could do without the bell, but that’s who they are and if any of them left without a sore throat then they won’t be invited out again

 

Summary – despite this being a potential banana skin, Portsmouth’s lack of ambition did nothing more than exaggerate the gulf in ability between the 2 sides. Bournemouth were still way too slow in bringing the ball forward and this performance will NOT be good enough against a top 10 side, but it was easily good enough today

Star Man – Matt Ritchie – so much class wrapped up in such a small package. Even playing out of position, still the best player on the pitch

 

#MKDons v #AFCB

As away days go – this was up there amongst the very best. The traffic was light and the optimism bubbling so the journey just flew by

So much so that we had to wait for 15 minutes in the freezing cold outside the Dolphin for it to open – I haven’t done that for ….well, I don’t want to admit that. Time again passed quickly as local lad Chris, who recommended the pub, met us outside

Several beverages and an unfeasibly large fish and chips later, we were walking to the stadium.

The afcb crowd had become sizeable and Chris led us through an industrial estate, a retail park and across a very busy road. We’d all been looking for the floodlights to help us get our bearings – how did we know there weren’t any.

The stadium was shiny, black and imposing. I searched for a sign that said MK Dons on it so that I could use it as my new twitter AVI – but couldn’t find anything – were they ashamed of themselves? No, probably not now, but it was early doors.

The reputation of the seats in the stadium went before them. Wide, deep and padded it felt like we were at home in our armchairs. Maybe that was the reason for so little noise, it was almost too comfortable.

We were, however, soon having to lever ourselves out of them, put down the paper and brandy , smooth down our smoking jackets and cheer like mad as an horrendous back pass had Grabban through one on one. As he rounded the keeper we, as one, all thought – for God’s sake hit the target this time, not like Crewe. This he did and we were one up after 9

This spurred  MK on and we were presented with a display of passing and ball retention. That said, they never quite seemed able to put in that killer ball or shot and most of the play was contained to the middle of the park.

Chances therefore were few and far between but despite MK’s possession superiority, it was Bournemouth that carved out more chances. Arter and Pugh both had good shooting chances, wide and at the keeper respectively and we had to wait until the 42^nd minute before Jalal was called into action, a smart save to his right.

Then came the pivotal few minutes, having previously failed to effectively kick and elbow Elphick, striker Lowe finally got his man with a potentially career ending 2 footed lunge at Elphick’s leg. A straight red – and deservedly so.

Elphick had to go off so Seabourne moved to CB and new boy Ritchie went to LB. Now I was really looking forward to seeing him play – but not there and certainly not in these circumstances.

In time being played because of this assault, a long ball was sent up to Grabban. He shrugged off 2 defenders and his shot was well saved by the keeper’s foot but unfortunately for him it spilled into the path of the on-rushing Pugh who fired it into the roof of the net

HT 0-2

Second half and MK came out with fire in their bellies. For 15 minutes they really came at Bournemouth and put them under a lot of pressure.

The closest they came was a shot that beat Jalal on 70 minutes to his left but rebounded off the post and went across the goal. Their second attacker then conspired to miss an open goal from 3 yards. I think it was at this point the lino felt sorry for him as he raised his flag to save his blushes.

There was only ever going to be one winner, however, as Bournemouth passed and passed, running MK ragged. And it wasn’t as if there was no end product either as Pitman, Grabban and Mcquiod all missed glorious chances.

And just how good is Matt Ritchie….. He looked class from the moment he came on and his crosses would make any striker worth his salt salivate in anticipation. I can’t WAIT for him to be playing a more cavalier role – I just hope Grabban/Pitman rise to the challenge.

The game was finished off in the 84^th minute as a short free kick was rolled to Arter 30 yards out just left of the penalty area. He moved it forward a couple of yards before lashing a shot into the top right corner. Unstoppable.

Summary – we really are beginning to look the real deal. The team have spirit and are playing for each other – never demonstrated more than when Lowe became the villain of the piece. Ritchie looks to be a fantastic buy – if we can get Elphick back we might just take the league by storm

Star Performer – Cook – Rock solid at the back under aerial bombardment and brought Seabourne into line as if he’d been there all the time