Tranmere 0 – 0 Bournemouth

178 Cherries fans braved the cold and heavy rain to watch AFC Bournemouth scrap for a dull as the dullest ditchwater you could ever imagine nil-nil draw at Prenton Park on Saturday. With the rain tipping it down, AFCB ran out with two changes from our Bank Holiday fixture against Scunthorpe last week. Neil Young was back in the centre of defence instead Eddie Howe whilst Steve Fletcher had hamstring problems and had ruled himself out. That left Dani Rodrigues the chance to impress with his second start of the season. Unfortunately, he didn’t.

From high up in the Cowshed, the visiting fans had a great view of the first real action of the game. Just three minutes in and we had a massive let off. Sam Aiston forced a foul out of James O’Connor just inside our penalty area. Referee Andy Penn gave must have thought it was still Christmas though and awarded a free kick just outside the box. The set piece from Jason McAteer was curled in to the top corner and prompted a diving save from Gareth Stewart to prevent first blood.

A minute later and McAteer worked well with Ian Goodison before eventually finding the huge Congo-born striker Calvin Zola. Zola struck well over the bar. Zola’s size caused us problems until he was substituted later on but only because we continually backed off him. The former Newcastle striker’s control and ball skills were as poor as I’ve seen from a professional and all it took to dispossess him was to stand up and tackle.

Brian Stock set up the Cherries first real attack finding Purches on the right wing. The move ended with Seremet rushing out of his area to deny Rodrigues a chance. The ball rebounded back to Stock and he took a long-range pop with the keeper off his line. Sadly the effort went wide.

The move saw Tranmere reply with two weak efforts on goal before Young set up another quick break. Horse put in a great 40-yard pass to find O’Connor. James raced down the flank and centred but no one was in the area. The ball was sliced clear for a corner with Tranmere under no pressure whatsoever.

Then Rodrigues showed some great skill on the left hand flank flicking the ball past his marker before running into a cul-de-sac and losing control. At the other end, Harrison had ended up with possession after we’d given it up cheaply. Thankfully the striker sliced it wide. Then Browning gave away a free kick from the wing. With Tranmere sending their tall central defenders up the pitch McAteer pumped the ball into the box to find Mike Jackson’s head. The ball went just wide.

Shortly afterwards and Tranmere found the woodwork from a corner. With the Rover’s defence still camped in the Cherries penalty area the ball fell to Sharps who headed onto the upright.

Tranmere’s pitch was turning into a sludgy bog affair and when Callum Hart went diving in for a tackle on Sam Aiston he picked up the only yellow card of the game. He did however win the ball, we can only presume that the booking was for sliding challenge?

The free kick was in a dangerous position to the left of our penalty area. McAteer again swung the ball in to find Greenacre who hit the ball on the volley. Somehow Stewart was in slap bang in front of the bullet and it rebounded away to safety. We’re not sure just how much Gareth knew about that one but it was an amazing save. O’Connor mopped up the loose ball and cleared, only for it to be thumped straight back. Stewart, his heart still pumping furiously, punched the ball clear.

Zola then had another wild effort go off target whilst Goodison tested Stewart with a low shot easily saved.

A rare moment at the end of the forty-five minutes saw the ball in Tranmere’s half. Rodrigues worked well with Hayter before winning us a freekick. Foley took the set piece and Shaun Cooper battled to shoulder the over the bar. Then Rodrigues found Foley on the flanks in another move. The first time volley from Foley went over the bar.

Half time came and some of us were tempted to stay underneath the concourse watching teletext for the next forty-five minutes.

HALF TIME: Tranmere 0 – 0 AFC Bournemouth

The second half started slightly brighter for the Cherries. Another trademark visionary pass from Stock found Foley who set up the first attack. Browning had his effort blocked though. Then Purches saw a low drive flash just wide after Rodrigues had done all the hard work.

At the other end Sam Aiston forced another save from Stewart with a low effort. There then followed a period of fifteen minutes when not much happened.

Around the hour mark two incidents involving the keepers livened up proceedings. At the other end, another challenge on a keeper went unpunished when Hayter almost profited from Seremet’s mistake. James went in close with the keeper and the ball fell loose. But Sharps cleared before Dani could react.

With less than ten minutes left on the clock Tranmere won themselves another corner. The ball was whipped in to the back post and headed goalwards by Goodison. Callum Hart was there though to clear off the line.

The closing minutes saw O’Driscoll bring on Jason Tindall and Eddie Howe in a bid to keep the scoreline at 0-0. Even the fourth official was bored with proceedings when he displayed the extra-time board. With five substitutes used and a few appearances by both physios the announcement of two minutes extra time was unexpected although by this time, welcomed by many eager to get back into the warmth.

FULL TIME: Tranmere 0 – 0 AFC Bournemouth

Plus points: A point away from home at Tranmere is not to be sniffed at. And considering Rovers had won their last three matches it was a good point?.

Minus points: ?.however we played poorly and so did Tranmere. Rovers only dominated the game so much because we continually gave the ball away. Tranmere’s main tactic was to hoof it up to Zola who’d fluff his chances. Ours was to play three passes then concede possession. A poor, boring game.

The referee’s a?: Apart from the early decision on O’Connor the ref was well behaved until very late on in the match. A truly awful decision to award a freekick against Callum Hart was topped by Penn’s reaction to some blatant off-the-ball kicking dished out towards James Hayter. Hayter was grabbed by the neck and kicked before being thrown to the ground whilst attempting to chase down a long ball. For that both players got a stern talking to.

Point to ponder: Those hardy souls (myself included) on the travel club coach saw rather too much of the services on the M6 toll road for our liking. The coach’s throttle gave up the ghost after playing up earlier on in the day leaving us stranded at one of the worse services in the UK. The arrival of Lancashire’s netball team livened up proceedings for a bit before a replacement tiny coach was sourced to get us to Oxford when it was all change again onto a larger Sea View model and home just after midnight.

In a nutshell: Instantly forgettable. The coach saga was much more exciting.
Report by
Paul Williams