AFC Bournemouth 2-2 Brentford FC

AFC Bournemouth dropped another two points at home to Brentford last night, even after coming from behind to take the lead.

Bournemouth got out to a good start against Brentford, the return of Marc Pugh to the starting lineup added danger going down the left wing. In total, three changes were made from Saturday, with Pugh, Daniels and Tubbs replacing MacDonald, Cook and McQuoid respectively. Solid passing football was being played and we look dangerous going down both wings. However, Brentford soon got a free kick inside Bournemouth's half, and took advantage of it. As the ball swooped in from the left Shwan Jalal raced out of his goal, completely missing the ball and a Cherries defender headed the ball into his own goal. This disastrous play resulted in Bournemouth becoming shell-shocked, they couldn't string a pass together for the next ten minutes, with Simon Francis notably looking extremely nervous. Our fortunes soon changed though as Matt Tubbs headed a beautiful glancing header right into Simon Moore's bottom right hand corner, leaving the Brentford goalkeeper no chance. Bournemouth returned to their former self, and continued to press on and attack. Not long after Lewis Grabban received the ball on the edge of the area, and cut in only to be harshly chopped down by a Brentford defender in the penalty area. Grabban, Daniels and Tubbs all disputed over who should take it until Addison stepped in and gave Daniels the right to take it. A powerful shot into the right side of the goal gave Bournemouth a deserved lead heading into half-time.

The second half began as the first half ended, The Cherries maintained a lot of possession and Marc Pugh continued to look a threat down the wing. Once again though, Bournemouth could not take advantage of the chances presented to them, leaving it wide open for Brentford. Around 60 minutes Brentford began to dominate, Bournemouth's lightweight midfield grew tired and became increasingly exposed. Even though everyone in the stadium could see Brentford were about to score, Groves sat there as if he were waiting for a goal to actually go in before he made a change. Uwe Rosler was not as ignorant, bringing Harry Forrester who eventually scored the equalizer with a curling shot from the edge of the area. The subs finally came, though they had very little impact on the game. Matt Tubbs was presented with a golden opportunity to win the game as he broke off leaving him one on one with the goalie, however a poor first touch lost his momentum and he tamely shot it at the Brentford goalkeeper. Frustration began to grow amongst everyone, and the only team looking like winning the game towards the end was Brentford. Though the game ended in a draw, it felt like another two points dropped.

In my opinion, something is clearly wrong at the club that needs to be fixed. I have a major issue with Jalal, who is a very average goalie at this level, and even though he made two glaring errors he continued to blame his defenders. It was also interesting to notice the difference between Groves and Rosler, Rosler was on the touchline yelling, moving and making subs, Groves sat in the dugout with his hands placed in his pockets. The teams lack of fight throughout is very demotivating, and they all bizarrely looked absolutely knackered after an hour, which isn't good enough for this level. Overall it once again was not good enough, and a trip to Swindon does not make this any easier.