So - the albatross family was back. Having missed the Yeovil romp and 3 goals at the North Stand end I feared the worst
In my head I KNOW that what an individual does or wears or even eats before a game has NO bearing on the result but in my heart me not being there Boxing Day was indeed the catalyst for such a fine win.
This was further reinforced as Ipswich came out like they'd all got bmx bikes from Santa Mick and were keen to pay him back.
Like a rash they were all over AFCB and Bournemouth just couldn't get their foot on the ball
Worse still was that their constant pressure resulted in them getting corner after corner and with the obvious height advantage they had it was really backs against the wall for the first 15 minutes
It took that long for Surman to fire over as AFCB's first shot but within minutes their keeper was in action with 2 further fine saves from Fraser then Grabban
We had weathered the storm and, growing in confidence, we started picking up the second ball more and more and started to take a grip on the game.
Not that Ipswich were out of the game - in a curious turn of events, Bournemouth dominated for a few minutes then Ipswich would have a run of play
Rather like a gentleman's excuse me the teams decided to take turns, the difference being that while the visitors' passages of play revolved around hopeful corners, Bournemouth were cresting real chance after chance
Even if you discounted the half a dozen good build ups that were ruined by poor final balls, by half time the game should have been in the bag
It was another game when you start thinking - is this going to be Birmingham all over again?
Sure, their keeper was having a fantastic game ( isn't it about time we came up against a poor keeper? :-) ) but at this level chances just have to be taken
Grabban was regularly hitting the target and there was a delightful O'Kane chip that had the keeper scurrying back to tip over brilliantly but the most glaring of misses fell to Fraser
On his own on the left hand side of the box when the ball found him, the keeper hopelessly out of position he swung his left peg at it and fired the ball high and wide
A real head in hands moment and one that helped keep the half time score at 0-0
The second half started with both Ritchie and Fraser putting in an early audition for the new series of Splash
Yes there was some "contact" but when you go up before you go down, with back arched and your BAFTA acceptance speech hidden in your jock strap no ref is going to give it - moving on ....
Grabban was in the thick of the early action with a shot from an tight angle well saved and if his cross to Fraser hadn't been miraculously cut out after a fine break then surely Fraser would have made amends for his earlier indiscretion
Then on 58 minutes came the sucker punch
A free kick awarded in the Ipswich half was pumped forward 45 yards to the edge of the Bournemouth box
Despite the long hang time of the ball, their attacker was able to chest the ball, unchallenged, into the path of their right winger
His cross through the box was met on the half volley by Murphy into the empty net
Bugger - yet another home game where all the stats were in our favour EXCEPT the important one : 0-1
This prompted Pitman coming off the bench to replace the largely innocuous surprise entry McQuoid and on 66 minutes the change almost paid off
A Pitman run ( yes you read that right) moved the defence around enough for Fraser to have the space and confidence to cut in from the left and smash the shot goalwards but it felt that Gerken (worthy of a name check) was not to be beaten
That was to be Fraser's last piece of action as he was replaced by Pugh and it was Pugh's first touch that was to turn the game on its head
A typical Pugh mazy run actually had some end product as the ball was crossed in and up Pitman went.
True, he didn't get the ball and true, he ended up on his arse but at least it was a challenge that had the keeper flapping and the ball was cleared to the edge of the box
There was Surman to smash the ball into the bottom right but again the keeper got there but he couldn't hold it
Up sprang Pitman like a jack-in-the-box on steroids to smash the ball from close range into the roof of the net
The record crowd, who incidentally had been brilliant throughout the game, went nuts
With 16 minutes to go we really had the momentum to do the unthinkable and turn the game around
Just 3 minutes later the transformation was complete - or so we thought
A Ritchie cross from the right had Pitman jumping for the ball and under that pressure - the keeper threw the ball into his own goal, only for the ref to disallow it
He seemed to suggest it was for hand ball but that was just not the case - nor was it a foul on the keeper
What it was, was a very poor decision that spared the blushes of a keeper that had been having a great game
I think there's a lot of truth in belief that you make your own luck and things balance off all through the season and if that's the case - we're in for the luckiest half of a season ever
Pitman had another header that just went wide and Surman's long range shot was well saved (again) but despite all the chances it wasn't to be
Final Score 1-1
Summary: Another fine performance marred by not taking the chances that we create.
I see many tweets form opposition supporters saying how well we play and how much they enjoyed watching us
Easy to say when they've taken points off us. We need to be the team everyone hates to watch because we turn these match winning performances into actually winning the match
We are SO close I can almost taste it - can't wait for Brighton - with every game we learn more about ourselves and get better - at least I hope so......
Star Man : O'Kane - yet another startling performance where he is on first name terms with every single blade of grass
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