It was a day of getting monkeys off backs at Dean Court. First home win since August……. first home goal for the impressive Thomas….. first home goal for Malone….
Bradders finally settled on playing the 4-5-1 that has served so well away in a bid to end the dreadful home run. The same line up that had performed so well at Preston and the same end result!
The game nearly started in dramatic form – Thomas just overreaching to head Pugh’s pinpoint cross wide. There was a narrow escape at the other end too as the normally prolific Dagnall fired over from two yards. Interestingly bearing in mind this start the game descended into one of precious few chances after.
Bournemouth initially struggled to get to grips with the game – a lot of possession but poor final balls drifted into the visitors having the lion share of the play as the ball came back too easily and our midfield misfired a little. The Irons were restricted to long range chances though with Grant firing twice at Flahavan from 30 yards.
There was precious little to report apart from a lot of industry from both sides until Bournemouth finally broke the deadlock on the half hour – and did so in style. Breaking quickly as they do away from home the busy Fogden brilliantly fed MALONE 50 yards out. The loan man advanced with purpose and brilliantly went outside Duffy before instantly firing across goal from the edge of the box and into the bottom corner past a startled Slocombe.
Scunny reverted to 4-5-1 to wrestle back the game and closed the half with some dangerous possessions and a series of corners but it came to nothing.
HT Bournemouth 1 Irons 0
The second half began with the visitors in the ascendancy and Bournemouth were indebted to Flahavan who brilliantly kept out Duffy’s far post effort from a long cross.
Bournemouth then moved into control flashing a series of crosses across the goal but too often it was Thomas crossing to no-one anticipating and nothing came of it. There was some fantastic football in the build up though with the midfield all contributing with incisive passing.
Bournemouth had a lucky escape when an Arter error allowed in Dagnall but he was inexplicably robbed by his team mate O’Connor who fired wide to Dagnall’s fury and Bournemouth’s relief.
Bournemouth were starting to hold on a bit, with the crowd getting tetchy, when they broke to wrap the game up on the 75th minute.
There seemed little danger when Pugh fired a long ball forwards but THOMAS muscled past Duffy controlled the ball expertly to cut inside Reid then fired a thunderbolt past Slocombe and into the top corner. If you wanted to break your home duck this was the way to do it!
Bournemouth relaxed after the second and played their best football of the game for the last quarter.Malone’s free-kick was just kept out by Slocombe and the home side passed the Irons off the pitch before the final whistle saw scenes of relief and jubilation.
FT Bournemouth 2 Irons 0
Flahavan 7 – Smart saves and good handling/kicking
Peters 7 – Much better at full-back – superb defending
Barratt 8 – Commanding leader’s performance
Cook 7 – Composed and safe – read game brilliantly
Cummings 9 – Best performance in ages particularly defensively
Pugh 8 – Twisting, turning and great crosses
Arter 7 – Ticked game over and more industious than of late.
Purches 8 – Superb watchman role in front of back four.
Fogden 7 – Tidy, worked socks off and good vision
Malone 8 – Energetic leggy performance and great goal
Thomas 8 – Ran channels, held ball brilliantly, great goal.
Verdict
It was a much needed win. We now have a forward that allows us to play one up front. Mobile and hard-working. We just need to gamble the midfield beyond him which didn’t happen often enough today and allowed the ball to come back too easily at times. That said the midfield worked so hard. Malone looks more comfortable there and Peters looks more comfortable at full-back and the balance is therefore much better. Barratt and Cook were superb and the full-backs were excellent. It wasn’t spectacular but the work-ethic was back and for once we finished chances. Bradders will be relieved and with more signings iminent things are looking up.
Report by Neil Dawson
Joey14 added…
We were good in spells but poor for about 15 mins too. We’ve played better at home and lost this season.
Hopefully with a more settled team playing week in week out we can get a decent run together.
Flahaven 7.5 – commanding in the box and a couple of good saves.
Peters 7 – supported Pugh and calm in defence. Battles well.
Cook 7.5 – good in the air, comfortable bringing the ball down and calm on the ball, very good prospect.
Barratt 7 – good leadership but can be caught out of position.
Cummings 7.5 – best game in a while, more confident and got forward more than usual.
Pugh 7.5 – couple of great runs and neat turns. Getting back to his best form.
Arter 7 – Quiet by his standards but put in a good shift, getting himself about and tracking back when losing possession.
Purches 7 – does the Robinson job of protecting the back 4 and being disciplined in the holding role quite well. Some criticise him for being annonymous, but that is part of his position – to let the attacking players do their job and fill in the gaps defensively. We look far more solid as a unit and less prone to counter attacks than when we had Arter/Gregory or Arter/MacDonald.
Malone 8 – helps Cummings defensively and gets forward. Well taken goal and full of energy.
Fogden 8 – amazing work ethic, almost Hayter like with his closing down and filling in the gap between midfield and up front. Ran himself into the ground and was good on the ball.
Thomas 8 – excellent front man performance. Has pace, strength, and intelligence to know when to run the lines and when to hold it up centrally. Took his goal very confidently as well.
MOM – if I had to pick one, it would be Fogden. A few people deserved it, but to come from Havant and produce a performance like that so quickly is impressive. Looked tired towards the end but when he gets his fitness up to league 1 standard he could be very useful in the ‘number 10’ role or out wide.
