Bournemouth 3-1 Crewe Alexandra

AFC Bournemouth returned back to Dean Court for the first time in 10 days when they lost to Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup hoping to get another vital 3 points against Crewe Alexandra. Since the last home league match against Swindon, The Cherries lost their first match since early October in a disappointing 3-1 defeat at in-form Walsall, but Eddie Howe's men quickly recovered to win 2-1 away at Hartlepool last Tuesday. With the match at Crewe in December, it was the first time Bournemouth had come up against the League One new boys this season.

The Match

Bournemouth made two changes to the team that one at Hartlepool, with Brett Pitman and Steve Cook replacing Richard Hughes and Charlie Daniels respectively. With the ever present Daniels missing the match, loanee Daniel Seabourne shifted to left-back to fill the gap left, while Pitman started up front with Lewis Grabban. Bournemouth knew Crewe were a young side who like to play good football, but The Railwaymen also boast a surprisingly noticeable height advantage in their side.

The starting spot is now Jalal's to lose

Howe's men started our the game on the front foot, Josh McQuoid earned his side a corner early but despite neat play Harry Arter could only blaze the ball over the bar when given the ball just inside the area. Crewe however push on from there, Byron Moore was enjoying success down the right wing against Seaborne but couldn't provide any of the visitors front two with a chance to score. The deadlock was broken after only 8 minutes, when Marc Pugh received the ball inside the penalty box, a neat turn had seemingly found him a way through before he was (seemingly) tripped by a Crewe defender. Despite Lewis Grabban scoring from the spot in mid-week, Brett Pitman stepped up and his shot went in off the left post to give Bournemouth the lead. The home team soon retained the ball and when given the ball on the left wing, Pugh turned the right-back Mellor inside out numerous time before it seemed he was fouled once more, Arter picked up the loose ball and he too was tackled but the referee did not award The Cherries a second penalty in quick succession (it should be noted following this Pugh was limping and struggled throughout the rest of the game). The home side's positive play was then put to an end by a resolute Crewe team, The Alex ascended and took control of the game, displaying some of the football that has earned them their respected reputation. When Bournemouth managed to get hold of the ball possession was quickly given away, with Harry Arter the notable culprit of a few misplaced passes. Bournemouth's few chances came on the break, and Pitman glanced a header but the ball went just wide of the left post, inches away from hitting the net. Fortunately for Bournemouth, Crewe did not manage to carve our any clear cut chances in the half , with the big framed Matthias Pogba the player looking most dangerous on the ball. With the half in its final seconds Eunan O'Kane broke through with the ball and released Grabban through on goal, the forward took it past the goalkeeper Steve Phillips and as fans rose out of their seats in expectation, the ball hit the side netting!

Pitman grabbed the opener

The home team started out much brighter in the second half, Howe would state in his post match interview he was frustrated with negative passing in the first half, and his team were now much more forward thinking on the ball. With the visitors now having to push up a bit in search of an equalizer, it left more space for the dangerous Cherries' attack to do some damage. Newly confident Josh McQuoid went on a long run, speeding past numerous Alex defenders before laying off to Pitman, whose curling effort went high and wide into the North Stand. Crewe though managed to maintain hold of the ball well despite Bournemouth's improved performance, but still struggled to break through the Bournemouth backline. If anyone was going to worry the visitors it was McQuoid, and he floated in a a high cross for Pitman who seemed to hang in the air as he jumped, but his header was well saved by veteran Phillips. It was the trio of Pitman, Grabban and McQuoid that were constantly providing a threat to the visitors; neat link up play between the former two gave Grabban space in the area once more, but his shot was stopped by Phillips who at that point was keeping his side in the match. The second goal finally came when Arter found space just outside the box, his low shot was parried by Phillips, McQuoid quickly reacted to pounce on the ball, he turned and crossed for the waiting Pitman who hit the ball in the empty net. The scenes were jubilant and it seemed Bournemouth could now step out of first gear and see out another win at Dean Court, as the second goal usually kills a team off. The third goal should have come when Phillips parried out Simon Francis' stinging cross right onto Arter's head, but the ball went over the bar and into the stand. In face of all this pressure, the visitors suddenly burst into life and made a game of it when the visitors took advantage of a mistake by Francis; the Bournemouth right-back misjudged a header allowing Pogba to break into the box and drag a shot/cross across the face of the goal before Colclough tapped the ball into the net. It seemed the home team's momentum had been lost and we were in for a very nerve-wracking final fifteen minutes. Thankfully our worries were soon oppressed when substitute Wes Fogden strode into Crewe's box and was fouled by Abdul Osman, leaving the referee to point to the spot once more. Brett Pitman sealed his hat-trick and a win for The Cherries with his second penalty of the day.

Colclough scored for Crewe

My Thoughts

Today was a vital three points, having suffered our first set back in a while at Walsall the team has recovered to win two straight games. Crewe were certainly one of the better teams to visit Dean Court this year, had they been more lethal with the ball the scoreline could have been entirely different. That said, even if we had a bad first half we were vastly improved in the second half, and given the amount of chances missed we could have easily score 6 or 7 goals today.

 Josh McQuoid was almost a different player today, after Pugh's knock our left-side wasn't providing a threat but McQuoid really took the game to Crewe with his pacey runs. If his goal at Hartlepool has given him the confidence boost he needed, then hopefully he'll rediscover the form that made him sought after by Milwall in the 2010/11 season. Arter and O'Kane once more had good games, in the first half they let opponents run through too easily but whenever they have the ball it feels like they may create a chance soon. Brett Pitman also deserves praise, I get frustrated with his "style" sometimes, but the deal with playing him is that he can go 89 minutes without doing anything, then score the goal that wins the match. He seems to be striking a partnership up with Grabban too, hopefully something that they will continue to build upon going forward.

In defence, Seaborne stepped in well to replace Daniels at left-back and we now know we have a solid option if we ever need it. While he doesn't have the attacking threat (he is a centre-back), he defended well and nullified the threat of Moore in the second half. Steve Cook performed admirably considering he's been at court all week, while Tommy Elphick was his usual solid self. Francis covers a lot of ground, granted he needs to improve his distribution, but aside from the mistake he once more had a good game. This was the first time I've seen Jalal start in the league in a long time, and while some may disagree, he still does not fill me with confidence. David James had to be dropped, but if Jalal does not start dominating his area more I think it won't be long before we see Allsop starting.

Player Ratings

Jalal-7; Shwan did not have much to do today but I thought his distribution was much improved from before. My main concern is that he never comes for crosses or corners, he MUST learn to do this.

Francis- 6; As I said previously, he worked extremely hard and did well for most of the game. Sometimes he needs to just whip in the ball instead of trying to do that extra thing, and he made a bad mistake that led to the Crewe goal.

Elphick- 7; Calm on the ball and dealt with any threat that came his way, the Crewe front two never really seemed to take Clayton and Pogba (besides the goal) out of the game.

Cook- 7; See above.

Seaborne- 6; Playing in a position that is not natural to him he didn't cope well with Moore at first, but performed much better in the second half. He will never provide the attacking threat of Daniels though.

McQuoid- 8; My man of the match, he used his natural abilities to his advantage today and gave the left-back a tough time. His reactions to make the second goal were fantastic.

Arter- 7; Sloppy on the ball sometimes and earned another stupid yellow card, but he is a good tackler and is never afraid to take the ball up the pitch himself.

O'Kane- 8; When MacDonald is fit will he be dropped? I cannot see that he will yet, on numerous times he provided an outlet and also played good balls to create chances, a completely different player nowadays.

Pugh- 6; He started of brilliantly but after that tackle he faded and was clearly hampered by an injury, thankfully he managed to continue on and hopefully he'll be ready for next Saturday.

Pitman- 8; Can I argue with 3 goals? He never seems to actually play that well, but I suppose if three goals isn't a good match, then what is?

Grabban- 7; His pace provides a contrasting element to Pitman that always surprises opponents, had he been less selfish and more clinical he would have ended up with a goal and an assist.