Cherries Draw The Daggers

Bournemouth were given a home match against League Two side Dagenham and Redbridge in the FA Cup first round today. Although the draw isn't very exciting, most Cherries fans will be happy with a home match against a team in a lower league. We haven't had much success in the FA Cup recently, with the last somewhat notable cup run coming in 2005 when only a Djimi Traore own goal denied Bournemouth a trip to Anfield. Thankfully, we haven't been drawn against non-league team, meaning the idea of a big upset will not be weighing over the players' heads.

A positive note is that in recent years we have had a lot of success against The Daggers, winning all of the previous 3 matches. 2 of those came in League One during the 2010/11 season, with Bournemouth winning 3-0 at home and coming from behind to win 2-1 away at Victoria Road. The most recent game between the two sides came last season in the first round of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, when Bournemouth won 5-0. It is difficult to get an exciting draw in the first round, so fans can't ask for much more than a winnable home match, hopefully starting a mini-cup run.

That said, The Daggers will be up for the game and will provide tough, determined opposition for the Bournemouth players'. For many clubs in the lower leagues (including ourselves) a cup run can help significantly in the finance department, and only two wins could result in a trip to Old Trafford, so the game will likely be a competitive one. I can't speak for Dagenham fans but I doubt many of them will have been too thrilled with this draw, but the crowd will hopefully be good should we continue our good form of late.  One happy person will be Dagenham goalkeeper Jordan Seabright, who is from Poole and spent season with The Cherries. Seabright didn't make an appearance for the first team, but he should be involved in Dagenham's squad when they make the journey south.

This will be Eddie Howe's fourth game in charge of Bournemouth since his return and fans will be starting to see his preferred players and tactics. Hopefully the team will have done well at Notts County and Carlisle and thus enter this back on the back of a good run of form. The game will take place at 3pm on Saturday the 3rd of November, at Dean Court.

The teams in action during the 2010/11 season