#bfc 0 v 1 #afcb

This was a treat

Not only was it a long away day - but we were up here for the weekend, Friday to Sunday

I say treat, but it was a 7 hour drive (with stops) and after a quite frankly excellent curry Friday night, we got to see the real Blackpool on Saturday

Matt decided to tweet some pictures of the promenade and they were all best described by Amy when she questioned why he kept using instagram's "dismal" filter

No need for such a filter for a town kindly described as "tired"

The sign outside a sweet shop best described the place : "WE SELL FAGS"

They say the sun makes anywhere look nice and this IS a seaside resort but I feel the sun would have to go nuclear before you could take the "wince" glasses off

The ground itself was lovely even if the entrance for the away fans was a little grim and the food and facilities were more in tune with roughing it with Bear Grylls

The pattern of the game was set even as the players shook hands

As Blackpool went down the line you couldn't help but feel the tangerines were shaking hands with the mascots, such was the height advantage

So, as predicted, the ball didn't spend much time on the grass

Their 24 won header after header and you feared it would be only a matter of time before someone guessed where the knock on would land

Pitman took a boot to the face after 8 minutes - I didn't want him to play either but even to me that seemed a little harsh.....only a little though.....

Although not dominant, Blackpool had the bulk of the opening possession and on 10 minutes a fierce shot saved by Camp seemed to send Fraser into panic as he passed the rebounded ball back into the packed penalty area only to be cleared by captain fantastic, Elphick

It took until the 20th minute for Ritchie to register Bournemouth's first chance with a trademark cut inside and low shot, a feat he repeated just 2 minutes later with both being comfortably saved by the keeper

Last week we had Kermorgant challenging for every ball. This week we had Pitman 5 yards off the pace and Grabban protecting his egg shell head by refusing to challenge for any ball in the air

I can kind of excuse Pitman as him lacking match fitness ( even though in my heart I just don't believe that he's good enough for this league) but for Grabban, our "goal machine" to not challenge in the air, ever, was more than disappointing

Kermit has only started 1 game and yet we could see what he brings to the game and what we sorely missed

While I'm talking players I also need to mention O'Kane and Surman in the middle - both awesome in a 451 but in a 442 together they are just a bit too defensive for my liking - I hope that Arter's injury isn't too serious

To mix things up on 30 minutes Ritchie and Fraser swapped sides but apart from a hopeful Grabban volley (high wide and poorly executed) and a low, blocked Harte free-kick Bournemouth offered little to frighten Blackpool

That said, the hosts were similarly ineffectual in this battle of the duds with Camp more than able to finish his Sudoku uninterrupted as Cook and Elphick mopped up the high balls raining down on them

Half Time 0-0

The second half started with such a rush that it had anyone still queueing for a rock hard slightly cold pie regretting their decision both because of the quality of purchase and because of missing the game's biggest (one of two) talking point

Grabban was played through in the first minute and as a he leaden-footedly knocked the ball past the out rushing keeper he was felled by him just outside the box

Or so I thought - In fact it was just INSIDE the box, resulting in a penalty and a yellow for the keeper

Maybe it was the fact that Grabban had hit the ball practically out of touch that the card wasn't red - ie not a goal scoring opportunity- or maybe the ref just thought Grabban wouldn't score a 1 on 1 ....

Up he stepped, though, to take the penalty and he coolly slotted it home into the bottom left corner despite the keeper guessing the correct way

Possibly the first time I'd not seen Pitman gab the ball for this type of chance -maybe he IS changing for the team

Four minutes later and Fraser could have doubled Bournemouth's lead when played through into the box by Grabban but after refusing the early shot he swivelled and was clearly up-ended - but no penalty given

The ref had obviously reached his away team decisions quota

Pugh was brought on for Fraser in the 57th minutes so Ritchie went back to his familiar right and on 75 minutes his "no surprise" shot from cutting in on the right was easily saved

Every now and then the home crowd could be heard (still poor for 13,000) but it was all about the high ball

I was half expecting Howe to send on the brooms to fully "quidditch" the game, such was the aerial bombardment the back 4 had to withstand but withstand they did, magnificently

Pugh did have one weak shot saved with 12 minutes to go having been set free on the left but at that pace even Jalal would have saved it - although he probably would have kicked it in his own face as he cleared it #distribution

The rest of the time we were either defending against the high ball as resolutely and focussed as I have EVER seen the team play or ruing the PK period - PK = post Kermorgant - a period of time where a high, cleared ball from Bournemouth will always be returned , with interest, by opposing players completely unrushed and unchallenged

There were, as mentioned, plenty of threats from corners, long balls etc as they clearly played to their strengths but I never really felt that we were in any danger of securing a 2nd successive win

Final Score : 0-1

Summary : Definitely the worst attacking performance I've seen for many a game. Oh how we missed a man challenging for every ball, bringing the midfield into the game and scoring goals

On the flip side, possibly the best defensive display of the season. Defending as a team whatever was thrown at them, they countered this tactic in a calm, no frills manner

At the start of the season we would have crumbled and lost the game - today I never really felt we were going to concede, so the goal early in the 2nd half sealed the game there and then

Star Man : Elphick - Totally dominant in the air and nimble enough on the deck to keep Blackpool to long (hopeless) range shots