Firstly, an apology
I won't say why, but it will become obvious as today's tale unfolds...
It was an early start as Marco picked me, Eloise and Matt up
We stopped at our favourite services of Cherwell and my mood was immediately lifted as Matt was almost knocked to the ground by a passing Granny
That was a good sign as far as I was concerned
We made good time to Birmingham and were sat in the Anchor pub before 12
The research had been my job and as it had won CAMRA plaudits I decided to overlook the fact it looked like it was in the middle of an aftermath of a war zone
Inside it had a plethora of 5.9% (or greater ) beers and encouraged by Matt I ended up having 3 before settling for a much more sensible rum (hence the apology)
We arrived at the ground with hours to spare, or at least that is what I assumed as there were so many empty seats but as they were never filled, maybe not
The game started very evenly with Grabban seizing onto the chance to improve on his own world record of being caught offside
The first chance fell to Birmingham on 10 minutes as a corner was swiped by Arter but luckily it spooned over the bar
Just 3 minutes later Bournemouth turned the game on its head
Good work on the left had Pugh passing the ball to Grabban who was galloping forward
His cross from the left was to the far post and Ritchie met it with a crisp left foot volley back across the goal giving the keeper no chance 0-1
The travelling fans, already out singing the quite frankly poor turn-out home fans went berserk
These are days that we will look back at in the future and realise how good we had it - and appreciate the fact that "we were there"
Seven minutes later and the parallels between this game and the game against Leeds were getting spooky
Pugh broke down the left and after his usual 14 cut backs he prepared to cross
My mate shouted "No - there's only Grabban in the box" as the ball sailed over and the keeper dived and parried the ball, right to Grabban
Christmas had indeed come early and he slotted the ball past the prone keeper to make it 0-2
Fair enough I could have scored it but he had to be there to score so the applause was richly deserved
Birmingham were all over the place
They had been hit twice and just didn't seem to know what to do
Zigic, so instrumental in their "backs against the wall" win at Dean Court was completely anonymous despite the desperate hoofing of the ball up front that the home side managed
On 26 minutes he might have wanted a full camouflage kit as it was effectively game over
A ball played to Kermorgant was skilfully volleyed forward for Grabban to run on to
He "touched" (I'm being generous) the ball past the diving keeper and was brought down for a clear penalty
Again Pitman was restrained on the bench as Grabban stepped up and slammed the ball into the top right corner of the goal
Two keepers wouldn't have saved that and 0-3 was a rich reward for the pressing, chasing and movement that Bournemouth had brought to the game
Bournemouth dominated the last 15 minutes by just keeping the ball and passing through the clueless home side almost at will
Even when Birmingham made a substitution there was no applause for the player going off or coming on - it was as if everyone had thought "well, it won't make any difference anyway"
So far, Birmingham training on the pitch to shake their home form voodoo had gone horribly, horribly wrong and the half ended 0-3 although Camp did have to make 1 diving save to a header in injury time which would have made it closer - but that would have been very much against the run of play
The second half started much as the first ended with Bournemouth just quicker to the ball and dominating possession
On 52 minutes, the mirror imaging of Tuesday's game was complete
An unusually sloppy Harte corner was headed back to him and he stepped inside and smashed a curling shot into the top right corner to make it 0-4
It was an amazing strike and no less than his performances of the previous weeks had deserved
Then the game changed
Off went Zigic and on came Macheda
Far shorter in stature he was much quicker than the glacier-speed of Zigic and was soon pulling the defence all over the place with his clever runs
Just one minute after he came on a cross from the right was headed back into the middle and he swept the ball in from close range
It was now 1-4 but surely it was too little too late
On 73 minutes it was squeaky bum time all of a sudden
Macheda picked the ball up just outside the box and looking up he thumped the ball into the bottom left corner to make it 2-4
Bugger
Their tails were really up now as they threw everything at Bournemouth
Bournemouth are now, though, made of sterner stuff and Birmingham were always going to have to do more than just pump te ball forward
Indeed it was AFCB who had the next best chance on 76 minutes after Grabban was played through for his millionth one on one this season
As he galloped forward half the travelling supporters stood up as the other half sat down and it was the latter that had guessed the outcome
Another one that just go away
Arter had a shot punched out with just 7 minutes to play, or at least that is what we thought
The timekeeper had other ideas as he decided that there were 6, count them, 6 minutes of injury time
No injuries no stoppages yet 6 minutes extra and Fergie wasn't even in the stands!!!
Luckily it made no difference
Actually the word luckily is unfair as the whole team made sure that Birmingham didn't even come close to making it "awkward" at the end
Summary : I thought the first half against Leeds was the best AFCB performance I had seen
It was, but little could I guess that that would be beaten within the week
Today the first half was just sublime
Pace and intent of attack and the ferocity to get the ball back was unbelievable
Fair play they did tire in the second half and sloppy play/passing did help Birmingham to apply the pressure but it was never going to be enough to turn the game around
I'm struggling to think of a side that I've seen this season that has played any better than that today an it bodes well for the future whether that be immediate or next season
Star Man : Arter - won so many balls in the middle and had the class and guile to set Bournemouth forward at every opportunity
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