#afcb 1 v 3 #brfc

This is a different kind of match report for me – I’ll say that straight off the bat. The reason? – because normally I detail what AFCB do well and, in an unapologetically biased way, couldn’t care less what the opposition do, or even who they are (player-wise)

Circumstances dictate, however, that for this report, I change my tact.

If I kept with my normal formula, I’d already be on the Star Performer section, as there was very little to be thankful for, but I will try my best…….

Blackburn lined up against Bournemouth and shook their hands. That was problem number 1. Each and every player from the grim north was bigger, stronger, faster….better…..

According to the Howe interview afterwards, the crowd’s nervousness adversely influenced the players. Bollocks – it was those handshakes and the fact that we were playing “Blackburn” – a former premiership side.

While we continue to play as “Little Bournemouth lucky to be breathing this rarefied air” rather than “we are Bournemouth who deserve to be here” –THIS is what we are going to get

It took just 9 minutes for Blackburn to take the lead. A cross from the left looked innocuous enough to the Bournemouth faithful, as we expect bugger all happening in the box.

Rhodes, a proper goal poacher/scorer, had different ideas. As the ball skimmed over shin high, he dived and headed in front of the statuesque defence to glance the ball into the bottom right corner. A fantastic finish – I couldn’t deny 0-1

Groves had clearly been giving some “inspirational” team talks as the back 3 (God I hope that’s the last time I use that term) and Allsop decided to play keep ball between them.

There are 2 problems with this train of thought:

1                     Every, and I mean EVERY, team press harder than we do as they seem to be stronger, fitter and hungrier than we are, so that puts us under a lot of pressure

 

2                     We haven’t got players that are comfortable enough on the ball to cope with that

Looking more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs the back 3 (shit I’ve done it again) fumbled and bumbled the ball between them and Allsop and we were getting absolutely rinsed down our right by King and Best as they both kept playing their “you can’t tackle, stop, impede me” card.

Blackburn’s second goal actually came from their right as slick passing and interplay cut the Bournemouth defence apart, allowing Best to slide in an easy close range goal

The East stand were LIVID (tutted quite loud) about the first or second passes not being given offside – but it was no more than they deserved 0-2

The difference between the sides, apart from the 2 goals, then became apparent to me. Where we took 10 passes to get close, to bugger it up, they took 2, and were through on goal. We were so slow a pub side could have defended against us

The 3^rd goal was no surprise except by how it happened

Josh King was sent through and Elphick, darling of the NS, just bowled him over. Some of the NS complained – but it was nailed on – King was going nowhere and yet was still fouled  - ridiculous

Rhodes scored the penalty  - of course he did. He sent Rocky the wrong way and put it in the bottom left 0-3

At half time one of our fans hit the cross bar and the ball went in – get him on, I thought, as apart from the offside Rantie goal on 5 minutes, that was the closest I’d seen to a home goal

Within 5 minutes of the restart, Hughes, the “experienced” campaigner of the team (who had replaced the injured Macdonald) had been booked for a high challenge, then booked again for a late tackle – so for all that “experience” he’d been sent off – brilliant

As I was googling “what is the biggest winning margin in a Championship game” the star of the season, for me, started to shine.

Fraser had come on for Pitman because the team weren’t strong enough to carry Brett a moment longer – and what a difference he made

With his pace and direct running, the massive Blackburn defence suddenly looked breachable

Trouble was with him on the right and Pugh on the left, who incidentally had the best game I’d seen without Daniels, what was the point in actually crossing the ball? There was never any one in the box?

Fraser must have thought that himself as he tried a couple of speculative shots- but to no avail

I did wonder whether the strikers were somehow allergic to the box as they seemed so reticent to go to these pastures green, but you’d have thought the ball just being there so often would encourage them

It was a different game. Sure, they were still cutting us open like a hot knife through butter,  but we were doing the same at the other end – except we just couldn’t put that final pass to feet

Playing so much better with 10 you really have to question the 3-5-2 start as playing 4-4-1, with Grabban dropping back worked SO much better

Bournemouth even got a goal back – with Rantie magnificently turning and nut-megging  in one movement before sending the rampant Fraser through.

He, in turn, tore through the defence to take the ball early and coolly slot the ball past the keeper’s left. Such a clinical finish – the first of many. I hope

And this was after Pugh had managed to hit the post minutes earlier - was there still time for a monumental come-back?

No

Final Score 1-3

Summary – I’d like Leon Best to be allowed into the home changing room. In there, I’d like ALL of the Bournemouth players to look, touch, feel, smell, lick WHATEVER THEY NEED TO DO to realise he is only human!!

No team in the Championship deserve so much respect that we should not compete – and yet that is what we failed to do in the first half.

Unless we shake off this small club syndrome, any team with a big past will beat us – because we have already beaten ourselves

If we don’t think that we deserve to be here – then we should just bugger off back to a lower division and continue to play the Groves-esque tippy tappy football at the back that gets us absolutely nowhere

Anyone can see how paper thin our squad is so I really hope we can use the loan market well. I fear it will be too little too late for Tuesday – but there is still time for the players to grow a pair and step up to take responsibility for what needs to be done in a game – including reading the game and comparing that against the instructions that have been given, if those instructions are just not working

Star Player – Pugh – best game he’s had without Daniels as his wing man. Fraser has the fans’ vote – and I get that – although once you’re 3 down, the pressure is effectively off J

Away Support - Excellent

East Stand

Main Stand

North Stand

Who ate all the pies?

South Stand

 

#afcb 1 v 0 #tykes

They tried it again – that Cherries anthem. A call from yesteryear to get the crowd going which resulted in 2 old guys clapping along hoping for Vera Lynn to come on next.

I’m all for us finding our own identity and galvanising the crowd into song, but no-one under 40 will have heard of it and they certainly won’t be joining in. I hope that we can get a song together, just something that doesn’t make us sound like we’re off to play with our woggles afterwards….

The game started brightly for me. In the first minute Ward did what he failed to do for 90 minutes on Saturday and try to thread Grabban through after he’d spun off the shoulder of the nearest defender. Sure the pass was over-hit – but I don’t care – at least he saw the opportunity

Now I’m sure that Pugh’s new child is absolutely beautiful but she must certainly have a set of lungs on her to keep the whole team up for the last few nights.

Surely that is the only explanation for such a lack lustre first half. With the exception of Grabban and Fraser, the rest of the team ambled about like a scene from Sean of the Dead.

Barnsley, like every team we have played so far, pressed all over the pitch whereas we just sat back and invited them on, applying no pressure on them whatsoever.

When we did get the ball, we were so deep that there wasn’t an effective outlet and so pretty soon, we’d find the ball coming back at us.

Another thing I’ve noticed about this league, players are adept at shielding the ball – we are not. Our touch was too often too heavy and if we were fortunate to control the ball, the next pass could go anywhere

Saying all that, we did keep having patches of 5 minutes at a time where balls where being passed and moved sharply and we cut through the Barnsley defence, only to overplay and lose the chance to shoot

The nearest Bournemouth came to scoring was from a Daniels’ long throw which bounced waist high to Fraser. No, I’m going to have to rephrase that – it bounced waist high on Grabban, but to Fraser it was nearer throat high so his swing at it resulted in the expected shot over the bar.

That was the nearest the Keeper had to dirtying his kit – his mum’s going to be so pleased

Barnsley on the other hand weren’t the side I was expecting at all. Led in the middle by a Billy Idol mini-me (11) they skilfully mixed direct route one football with patient and clever passing – I was expecting a bruising encounter, but they came to play.

They had an overwhelming victory if you go by chances gained and none were better than 1 minute after Fraser’s ballooned effort

From a tight angle on the right the post was struck by a stinging shot and as the rebound fell straight to an on-running  attacker, we all feared the worst.

With the goal at his mercy he chose this moment to show he hadn’t taken his OCD medicine today and as hitting the post once was an odd number he decided to hit it again to even it up.

The Barnsley fans were disappointed, but he felt a lot better inside

Half Time 0-0

At half time Howe had desperately tried to find an octagonal room so that 8 of them could sit in the naughty corner and that humiliation clearly worked as Bournemouth came out firing

Within a minute Grabban and Pitman combined for a one-two to put Grabban through one on one. His shot (yes I am going to call it a shot – we need it for our stats) dribbled past the left post like he’d shanked it with his ankle.

A glorious opportunity missed and it would capped a good performance but it wasn’t to be.  I may have been less charitable at that time and I do apologise to all those I may have offended at the time …

Daniels then went off (injury) and Elphick came on, with Cook going to left back. This ended our threat on the left. You don’t fully appreciate what Daniels does for Bournemouth as an attacking force until he’s gone.

Then the surprise substitution. Rantie came one (no that’s not the surprise – we were ALL hoping for that) and Fraser went off. Fraser was our main threat – so maybe he’d picked up a knock ??

Anyway, Rantie was on and the crowd, who I think were tremendous anyway, took it a notch higher.

Had Rantie scored with his first touch as he turned the defender inside out and fired just wide right of the goal, the noise would have woken Poole (not quite loud enough to fully wake Pitman though)

It still raised the excitement off the pitch and the players responded on the pitch. Rantie looks so fast and at last we were pressing from the front, which put their defence under pressure, which, surprise surprise, gave us more chances

Bournemouth were now in control and were getting lots of success down the right with Francis and Pitman firing crosses over and causing mayhem in the Barnsley box

It was from one such cross on 77 minutes that a scrambled clearance found Pugh on the left in the box.

Like a snake charmer he weaved from the right to the left, back again and again and again until the defender eventually fell catatonic which allowed him to push past and absolutely smash the ball into the left of the goal 1-0

The last 15 minutes or so we got a glimpse of what Rantie will bring for us – and he had an effect I hadn’t thought of. Not only was he a great outlet with amazing pace which actually encouraged our players to stop fannying around (one for Nikki) and get the ball to him, but it gave extra space for our other speedster, Grabban, to run into.

Yes, I know that that should have been obvious, but one player making another player more effective in such a small timeframe makes me salivate at what the season might bring.

As with and Bournemouth performance, we were always going to have 1 scare before the end.

For this match it came with just 5 minutes left on the clock as Barnsley broke quickly on the right. A low cross was cleverly dummied to the free man over, on the left.

As the striker wound up to score, or kill Allsop trying, Ward donned his superman outfit and threw himself in front of the ball’s path, taking it full in the face – a true “take one for the team” moment – and one that also proved to be telling

Full Time 1-0

Summary – I’ve seen Bournemouth play a lot better than this and get nothing. Sure we rode our luck, but we can’t be as sloppy as we were in the first half again, can we? We are guilty of trying to overplay but I really do admire the ambition to avoid the long ball hoof

We do need to press harder and stop the worrying passes at the back but going forward we really do look good although worryingly this good play doesn’t lead to as many shots on/off target as it should.

We are, however, missing Arter and Ritchie and with Rantie getting a starting place (this is a certainty, sooner rather than later) I think we will raise our possession to shots ratio – and with that our goal difference

Star Man – Grabban – despite the howling miss, played the 90 minutes like he gave a damn and wanted to prove that when Rantie comes into the side, HE will be his striking partner

 

Main Stand

 

East Stand

 

South Stand

 

Great Barnsley Support

 

 

 

 

#afcb 1 v 2 #bfc

I was looking forward to today – watching a team with a £15m winger in it is exactly what excites me about promotion to the Championship

Before the game I took control at the bar – if you don’t serve draft ale for God’s sake learn how to pour a can. I took it off the oaf and saw this as a positive sign for the day – a bit more proactive than my usual tutting quietly.

This was reinforced by the appearance of the huge AFCB flag I’d heard so much about. The flag itself was excellent and a great idea – the performance of the NS, me included, was terrible.

If I was the flag owner I’d be keeping us all behind to practise what the bloody hell we had to do and where the flag was meant to go.

The game kicked off with Arter missing, replaced by O’Kane. In the first minute Pitman chipped the ball over from the right and Grabban shut his eyes and hoped for the best – his header just went wide of the right post.

Exactly the start we wanted. A sign of good intention. More pressure from AFCB followed until Blackpool finally broke their shackles on 7 minutes when good work down the left caused Francis to find row Z

Blackpool sent in a long throw which looped over the masses, bounced in the area and the always troublesome Fuller stooped and headed the ball low past Allsop into the bottom left corner.

What happened there? It looked like Allsop was DJ’ing a game of musical statues and he’d forgotten to turn the music on. Howe, like the rest of us, must have winced at that. 0-1

The crowd turned up the noise and the players responded. It took 5 minutes for AFCB to think – that long throw thing, that worked for them, why don’t we try it?

A long throw from the left was flicked on at the near post and Grabban was in the right place at the right time to sweep the ball in 1-1

Two minutes later and Pitman was sent through. Realising that amongst his many fine attributes, pace is very much at the back of the queue he cleverly back-heeled the ball into Grabban who’s shot was deflected over.

At least we were actually shooting – maybe that’s the Rantie effect….?

Bournemouth’s tails were very much up and were heaping the pressure on with Grabban going close twice in quick succession.

I’m not blaming Grabban (on his own) but Bournemouth’s goals to shots ratio HAS to improve – but the positive side, there can’t be many teams creating as many opportunities. We just seemed to lack the killer final ball / shot to polish off good build up play.

Blackpool were playing on the break and with Ince in the team they were always going to be a threat. I have to say the guy looked class. I reckon he could stand up on a roller-coaster wearing a waiter’s outfit holding a tray full of champagne and he wouldn’t spill a drop – his balance was that good

It was he that had the best chance in the remainder of the half (against the run of play) as he was put through and bore down on goal. Allsop made himself as big as possible (not that difficult for him, admittedly) but was still powerless as the ball was hit past him – but to Bournemouth’s relief it struck the base of the right post and eventually away to safety

Half Time 1-1

What we needed now was to start the second half like we did the first. Which we did, by letting in an early goal – THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!!!!

A corner in the 47^th minute was glanced in by Bishop, who, from my seat, looked completely unmarked.

I don’t know who’s in charge of our set play training – but he needs a kick up the arse!! 1-2

The big talking moment came in the 58^th minute as Robinson cynically brought a full flight Fraser down to earth. A second yellow (I must have missed the first) meant he had to go.

He did argue that he couldn’t have done it as his arms were in the air – much like saying I didn’t punch him in the throat and my feet were still – the referee didn’t buy it and quite frankly I hope he’s embarrassed by the effort.

What we needed now was to raise the tempo. Before the sending off Blackpool were amazing at pressing us on the ball but they were never going to do that now, so we had to shift them about as much as possible.

What actually happened is that with the exception of Grabban and Fraser, we actually slowed down ?? I felt so sorry for Grabban as his mid-week trip to Harry Potter World so badly back-fired as Ward couldn’t see the million runs he made, begging for the ball to be played over the top, because he was wearing his cloak of invisibility he’d bought in the gift shop.

That can be the only reason I can think of why, instead of making that pass, he chose to pass it short to MacDonald who would pass it straight back to him, at a rate of knots.

Grabban must have been knackered by the end of the game

I love MacDonald, not quite enough to let him go with my wife (as the song goes) but today he seemed to have the turning circle of an Addison (biggest unit of measurement I could think of). If the ball came to him with his back to goal, he passed it back, every time  - so weird because when running forward he was excellent.

The last 30 minutes was all Bournemouth but we just could not finish it off. Shots were either fluffed of brilliantly blocked and the rebounds never fell our way.

I’d love to see the match stats because it that one-sided as Blackpool defended their hearts out. I have to give them credit, down to 10 men they were calm on the ball and seemed to be just one step ahead of every attack, thwarting everything we threw at them

Blackpool could even have finished it off with 8 minutes as their 14 was put through, only to strike it wide

The last 10 minutes, including 5 minutes of extra time, it looked we had a team of Super Mario’s on the pitch as surely only plumbers could get hold of that many kitchen sinks to throw

Pitman even had the ball in the net in the last minute with a close range poke but it was ruled offside – I’d like to say I’ll look carefully at that tonight on the FLS – but I know I’m too bad a loser to stay up that late to watch us lose

FULL TIME 1-2

Summary – For those who have been unable to get to the Watford or Huddersfield games – that was your insight into what has been happening. Some great play, lots of chances created, 1 goal. Blackpool, 2 shots on target, 2 goals.

We are so close to being something great and with Rantie and Ritchie in the team I really do believe that we will give every other team in the league plenty of headaches.

I’d also like to see the fitness coach work them a little harder as every team we have played seem to press much better than we do.

One word on tactics – fully agreed with taking Pugh off for Thomas, but why repeat Watford’s mistake of putting Pitman out on the wing? I know Grabban has been scoring, but surely it’s horses for courses. Grabban can run, Pitman is never going to skip past any defenders and run to the line – Grabban on the left made more sense to me

Saying all that, this is a learning experience and every game I do believe we are getting better – roll on Tuesday – let Barnsley feel our wrath

Star Man – Cook – Very cool in defence and put in 3 of the best timed sliding tackles as last man in defence I have seen – and all that against a winger destined for bigger and better things

North Stand

 

South Stand

 

Main Stand

 

East Stand

 

Blackpool Support