Following a fantastic 1-0 away win at Doncaster last Saturday, Bournemouth returned to the Goldsands Stadium with the aim of getting their 5th home win in a row. Standing in their way were Oldham, currently in 17th place and managed by former Premier League forward Paul Dickov. Since Eddie Howe's return last month, Bournemouth had drawn one match and won the other 6, having only had 8 points before.
Match Report
Howe made one change to his lineup from the win at Doncaster, with Simon Francis recovering from injury and returning to replace Steve Cook in the right back position. Oldham were missing Dean Furman and James Weselowski, captain and vice-captain respectively. Bournemouth started out the match slowly, with the visitors Oldham having the best of the opening period. With relatively well known names such as Lee Croft and Matt Derbyshire in the lineup, Oldham were showing the confident home side that they were not going to be pushovers. Bournemouth had little of the possession, but broke fastly when they got the ball with Josh McQuoid making a couple of speedy runs down the right. The Cherries found it hard to maintain possession against a hard working Oldham side, who constantly closed down and pressed Howe's men. Despite controlling portions of the half, Oldham didn't trouble the resolute Bournemouth defence, with Cristian Montano appealing in vain for a penalty. Bournemouth had a couple of half chances and corners, but the final ball seemed to be lacking all over the pitch. The first half slowly faded out, with both managers likely keen to get across a motivating message in the dressing room.
Since Eddie Howe's return, there is something about the second half that completely transforms the team. Kicking towards the home end adds fire into the players bellies, and once more The Cherries' came out after half-time with all guns blazing. In the 53rd minute the ball came down the left wing, and found its way to Harry Arter who moved towards the edge of the area and shot, but Lewis Grabban ran onto it and hit the ball into back of the net, leaving Dean Bouzanis stranded. Bournemouth didn't stop there, as a minute later good work down the right resulted in Simon Francis hitting a low cross across the area, and that man Grabban popped up once more with a perfectly placed shot right across Bouzanis and into the bottom left corner. A previously comfortable and composed Oldham team had been rocked and seemed unable to cope with the Cherries pressure. Dickov threw on two subs in an attempt to get a foothold in the match but they had little impact as Bournemouth continued to maraud down the flanks. Having had a solid penalty shout turned down earlier buy the referee, Bournemouth were awarded a penalty in the 71st minute after Mvoto took out Arter just inside the area. After a civilized debate as to who took the penalty between Arter and Grabban, Arter stepped up and had his shot saved, but Grabban reacted quickest to score Bouremouth's third goal and complete his hat-trick. Grabban, Arter and Pugh all soon left the pitch to standing ovation's, with Bournemouth beginning to take their foot off the pedal. Howe's men still wanted more goals, and a well placed corner from Pugh found the charging Daniels who lost his marker and dove and headed the ball into the back off the net. . Bournemouth fans know that Eddie Howe's team like to let in a late goal, and that was apparent when substitute Matt Smith was left unmarked to head home a consolation goal for The Latics. Even with a bizarre 6 minutes of additional time, Bournemouth saw out the game with ease.
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| Hat-Trick Hero Lewis Grabban |
My Thoughts
I've left Dean Court with a smile on my face, I've also left feeling like storming into the changing room Eddie Mitchell style and yelling at the players, but today was a feeling of joy I have not felt in a long time. It is impossible to put your finger on what exactly he's done, but Eddie Howe has rejuvenated this team and changed them from relegation fodder to play-off challengers. Admittedly the first half was pretty lackluster, but in the second half Bournemouth were a different class. Each and every player today played well, some better than others, but it was a complete team performance and the unity of the players seems to be spurring them all on.
In every aspect of the team, we are solid but also dynamic and energetic. As I'm sure a lot of right-backs in League One will agree, our left side is surely up their with the best in the division. When Marc Pugh gets the ball the crowd gets on their feet, and Charlie Daniels is always sprinting forward to support him. Harry Arter works his socks off but has found a new side to his game full of creativity and flair, while Shaun MacDonald provides the reliable, composed option next to Arter. Lewis Grabban is a different player compared to under Groves, he uses his pace but is also very dept as holding the ball up giving others the time to support him. The defence has a bit of work to do on its concentration for 90 minutes, but it looked very comfortable throughout and the distribution from all was quick but intelligent. Personally, I think Miles Addison deserves a special mention as I've given him a lot of stick recently, but he was a rock today and won everything that came his way, yes his passing isn't Xavi-esque but that's why he's not in the Premier League!
In summary, a fantastic win against a decent opposition helps us climb further up the table and we are now only 4 points outside of the play-offs. I may be getting ahead of myself but I think League One is there for the taking, don't forget we made Tranmere look very average and should have easily beaten MK Dons (thanks for that Groves). We move on to Tuesday, where high flying Stevenage visit on the back of a 4-1 stuffing against Sheffield United tonight.
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| Stevenage are the next visitors to the Goldsands Stadium |
Thank you for reading!
