For the first time since 2007, Bournemouth had a Boxing Day match at home to look forward to with Yeovil Town making the short journey to the Goldsands Stadium. Since Eddie Howe's return Bournemouth were unbeaten for 13 games, but Yeovil headed into the match only 2 points behind the Cherries, having beaten Oldham 4-1 on Saturday. Highlighting the importance of the match, it was announced before the game that all home seats had been sold.
In front of an unusually packed Dean Court it was Yeovil who actually started the brighter team with their midfield winning the battle against the Cherries midfield which seemed to be missing the injured Shaun MacDonald. Bournemouth seemed to be struggling to get into a groove, as the hard working nature of the Glovers stopped the Cherries passing the ball around. Adding to this was the adverse weather conditions arguably working in Yeovil's favour, as a strong wind swept towards David James' goal, James also let the ball slip out of his hands twice, but Bournemouth's defence cleared before Yeovil's forwards had the chance to put the ball in the net. Yeovil's only real chance of the first half fell to the in form Paddy Madden who was let through after the ball went straight over the Bournemouth backline, but Madden mishit the ball and it rolled far and wide of the goal. Bournemouth tried to exploit the wings, particularly with Marc Pugh down the left, but Eddie Howe's men only looked dangerous when they whipped in crosses; Grabban and Pitman worked hard but couldn't manage to get on the end of any. Pitman did almost break the deadlock, but despite being merely yards out from the goal he could only hit a tame left footed shot right at Marek Stech. Bournemouth also had a major penalty claim turned down when Steve Cook was blatantly pushed by a Yeovil player in the penalty area as he tried to attack a free-kick, the referee did not agree and ordered play to continue. However the breakthrough came after half an hour, Grabban's pace got the better of the Yeovil defence as he released Pugh down the left, and he in turn crossed the ball across the face of goal for the onrushing Grabban to blast the ball home. The lead did not bring Bournemouth much joy and Yeovil probably felt slightly aggrieved to head into half time facing a 1-0 deficit.
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| Lewis Grabban grabbed the opener |
Eddie Howe's men usually seem to transform in the second half, likely due to attacking the noisy home fans in the north stand. Bournemouth did manage to gain control of the match but still found it difficult to breakdown the Yeovil team, and they did not create any clear cut chances. Yeovil then had a brief purple patch, when it began to seem as if Bournemouth would struggle to hold on to the lead for the rest of the half. Dominic Blizzard found space on the edge of the area to fire at shot but David James made a good save to preserve the Cherries' lead. Following this, the visitors should have been killed off when a suicidal backpass left Grabban one on one with the goalie, but instead of passing to open team mates the increasingly confident Grabban took a shot, but it was saved by the very reliable Stech. Thankfully, the wasted chance would not come back to haunt Bournemouth as questionable Yeovil substitutions helped Bournemouth take complete control of the game. The second goal came when two Yeovil defenders let a Simon Francis cross go straight through them, leaving Harry Arter on the edge of the box to control and smash the ball home into the top corner. The second goal is always extremely important, and it seemingly killed off the hopes of the resilient visitors. More chances came Bournemouth's way, notably when at full stretch Pitman could only slide and just miss an open goal from substitute Josh McQuoid's cross. With ten minutes left Yeovil tried in vain to spark a revival when they had 3 corners in a row, but thanks to superb heading from Steve Cook and co. David James was not tested. Almost inevitably the third goal came when a penalty was awarded due to handball after the ball hit Luke Ayling's outstretched arm. Brett Pitman grabbed the ball and claimed the penalty as his despite the passive protests of designated penalty taker Charlie Daniels. Thankfully Pitman cooly slotted the ball home; 3-0, thank you and good night. Knowing the game was over almost half the visiting support left the stadium to gleeful chants of 'cheerio' from the home fans.
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| Brett Pitman got his first goal on home soil since his return |
Thoughts
I was surprised by how well Yeovil played in the first half as they were terrible when we played them earlier in the season, but I thought they more than matched us for the opening 45 minutes. The first goal made a huge difference as it meant Yeovil had to push up, leaving their slow defenders exposed to the pace of the tireless Grabban. What worries me is that the loss of MacDonald leaves us very lightweight in the midfield, and if I was Eddie I'd be very tempted to drop either Fogden or O'Kane, as Yeovil's midfielders seemed to overpower them in terms of physicality. Against the top teams in this league sometimes it is necessary to have a ball-winner in the middle.
Enough with the negatives, in tough conditions we managed to resoundingly beat a good team, and if not for the fantastic efforts of Marek Stech it could have been 6 or 7-0. Though Addison was getting better, Steve Cook played fantastically and he seems to have built a very solid partnership with Tommy Elphick. When the pitch is in better condition, the technical ability of our players will become more prominent, as some of the balls being played are pure class. My man of the match today was Lewis Grabban, yes he did make some bad decisions but he ran his socks off for the team. His pace was a constant worry to the Yeovil defence and his confidence has skyrocketed since Eddie's return. If Brett rediscovers his old form then I think we could have one of the best forward lines in the league, especially with McQuoid and Tubbs coming off the bench. 14 games unbeaten is an amazing record, especially when we've won 11 of those and drawn only 3. We now are one point off the play-offs and 7 off the automatic places, so there is no reason why we can't push on even further. Yes, the run has to end at some point but there is no reason why that has to be in the near future. Next up we face another tough outfit in Crawley, who beat Portsmouth yesterday after going through a barren spell of form.
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| Ex-Cherry Shaun Cooper and his Crawley side are next for Howe's team |
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