Premier league side AFC Bournemouth. Premier league side AFC Bournemouth. You need to keep saying it don’t you! Words previously only heard just before you wake up….or on beginner levels of Football computer games……or in mental institutions. Not any more though.
Our club……our beautiful family…..the trips to Chester, the buckets collecting ten pences, the great escapes against Shrewsbury and Grimsby then the start of the climb at Burton Albion. That club…our club…. will trot out at Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford, White Hart Lane as equals – not in the third round of the FA Cup as cannon fodder.
That club… our club… will sell shirts in Singapore, will have old men in cafes in Costa Rica squinting at the top corner of the telly wondering who the hell the ‘Bou’ are that are playing Man City, will have Francis’s runs analysed by Alan Shearer…will be heavily backed to lose in Chinese betting syndicates….will feature coast to coast in the US of A.
The world will never be the same again. We just got on the radar!
Eddie made one change tonight, Smith coming in for the suspended Francis. In the stands the atmosphere crackled and the fans debated which team would turn up. Would it be the swashbuckling destroyers of November to March or their more cautious cousins of April. Could we cope, from a coronary perspective if it was the latter?
It didn’t take long to answer that question. There was a real mood of ‘lets get this over with’ in the team who played with verve, passion, style and confidence from the off. Wilson nearly scored on two minutes off the long curling ball behind the centre halfs first seen against Middlesbrough. He was denied by the legs of the outstanding Bogdan. Bogdan then twice denied Bournemouth stopping Wilson when clean through and then making an outstanding one handed reflex stop from Ritchie’s follow up.
Bolton were little seen and relied on the long ball to Heskey who is still a handful away from goal (story of his career I guess). He linked well with Le Fondre on a couple of occasions and the latter headed straight at Boruc when he should have done better.
Bournemouth were flowing though and the chances were coming thick and fast with Arter and Ritchie both seeing shots blocked and Kermorgant heading Arter’s curling cross narrowly over.
The goal had to come and it was greeted with a roar the like of which I have never heard at Dean Court. Ritchie’s cross from the left saw PUGH control, turn outside and smash a left footed drive across Bogdan and into the top corner from a tight angle.
The ground was rocking and it was about to go stratospheric. If ever a goal encapsulated Eddie’s style of football it was our second. A flowing move that started at left back and involved half of the team in quick passing football. The ball arrived to Wilson at the corner of the box who found Kermorgant in the area with a superb low fast ball. The Frenchman didn’t even look up but cushioned the ball into the path of the arriving RITCHIE whose thunderous left foot drive did the rest. Quite beautiful and so this season!
HT Bournemouth 2 Bolton 0
The second half resumed the total control Bournemouth had and all the confidence returned in spades. There was an intuitive understanding of each others movements and positions. Bolton were tiring by the second. Their task became more uphill when Kermorgant released Wilson who was brought down in the box. Dervite was the culprit and he saw a straight red. Kermorgant missed the opportunity to totally relax the fans by smashing his spot kick uncharacteristically high and wide.
The home team were in no danger though and defended like dervishes whenever Bolton had the ball.
The relaxing goal came when Surman burst into the box and crossed for WILSON to masterfully roll his man and find the bottom corner for his 20th league goal of a memorable debut campaign.
After that it became a bit of a blue. The home fans rattled out the Match of the Day theme tune and ‘Champions League – here we come’. I laughed. Bournemouth……Champions League? In our dreams………..
FT Bournemouth 3 Bolton 0
Boruc 7 – Safe as houses
Smith 9 – Brilliant running, energy, tackling back and creation.
Elphick 8 – Solid, calm – Captain like.
Cook 8 – A masterclass in positioning and reading the game.
Daniels 8 – Bombed up and down. Feeney was non-existant.
Ritchie 8 – Clever feet – another great goal, centre of most things.
Surman 8 – Swept around the pitch cleverly.
Arter 8 – Snarling perfection with movement and passing.
Pugh 8 – Back to his tricky best.
Kermorgant 8 – Led line superbly and pivotal role.
Wilson 8 – Couldn’t live with him. 20 goals now – fantastic.
Verdict
I’m not going to bang on tonight. Theres not much that hasn’t been said elsewhere. We are privileged to have a brilliant manager who makes you proud with everything he says and does. He has created a team in his image – thoughtful, neat, a touch of understated confidence and an absolute joy to watch.
Thankfully they turned up tonight as an absolute tour de force. They treated us to a display of assurance and slickness underpinned by the most incredible work ethic.
You can’t choose when you are born. And you can’t choose when you go. We have lost some great fans this year from this messageboard and from the supporter family. Everyone will have thought tonight of friends or family that can’t go anymore or who have gone to the big stadium in the sky. We are the lucky ones, we saw something that others waited 100 years for. But they were all back there with us tonight…..every last man of them… you could hear them….and the team made all 30,000 of us so proud.
Report by Neil Dawson
Share this article
Related Articles
