Bournemouth fans unamused at losing
The big question for me on the lead up to this game was – ‘Do I hate Bournemouth like I hate the Skates?’. I was at the game in 1987 when we drew 2-2 and got knocked out 3-2 on aggregate and all I remember is Tim Flowers having a mare. I remember no feeling of hatred towards them or feeling any worse afterwards than I did when we lost to anyone really. Following their promotion last year, they are now in the same Division as us for the first time since the 60s I think which is a fact they have been playing up to. You expect it from the fans but you don’t really expect it from their chairman, who decided to stir it up a bit by calling us ‘stagnant’. You could say we were stagnant when we were finishing 4th bottom of the Prem every year but you can’t really say we’ve been stagnant as we’ve been plummeting down the divisions. It struck me a bit of cheap shot point scoring but each to their own.
Outside the ground there was no overbearing police presence and there was no sinister atmosphere, nor the smell of rotting fish. Inside there was a lot of Bournemouth fans but no real sense of aggro and I wasn’t sitting in my seat, seething at their presence in my ground. They tried to get a ‘scummers’ chant going which was a bit sad I thought.
To the teams and Saints changed a few from Saturday. Seaborne came in for Jaidi which Dickson replacing Harding at left back. The newly named Alex Chamberlain (nee Oxlade-Chamberlain) was on the right of midfield with Lallana fit to start on the left. Schneiderlin was clearly tired after his 20 minutes on Saturday and his place went to The Late Paul Wotton who is not called this because he is dead. Up front we had Barnard and Puncheon but the biggest cheer was for the inclusion of Sir Rickie on the bench. Another notable bench warmer was Tony Garrod, an academy striker who I knew nothing about at all. For Bournemouth, I was looking forward to seeing what Brett Pitman could do against Jose Fonte who would be the best defender he’s played against by a mile.
We made a decent start again and were buzzing around the Bournemouth box without working the keeper. Barnard was up front on his own really but was making a nuisance of himself and making a decent job of it. Punch initially looked like he was unsure of his position but did cause the first save of the afternoon as the amusingly named Schwan Jalal got down to hold his shot.
The middle fifteen minutes of the first half were more attritional in the midfield areas and Dean Hammond went into the book for a ridiculous scythe tackle which was so bad I was convinced that it was the Late Paul Wotton arriving on the scene, 20 minutes after the ball has gone.
Following a general battering of Lee Barnard by the Bournemouth centre backs, Bournemouth were then awarded what looked like a generous free kick for not a lot by Seaborne. Right on the edge of our box and the referee was by this time, beginning to get on my nerves a bit. I feared the worst when Pitman hit it well but instead of bulging the net, it flew about a yard over. Saints then went the closest they’d been as Lallana fed Chamberlain who fired in a good, low, left footed effort which was on its way until Jalal got fingertips to it to push it wide. Bastard. YEAH-ooooooooooh.
The first half ended with the Ryan Dickson comedy 10 minutes. Firstly he got in a great position to cross into the box and instead of doing so, attempted some sort of wanky drag back which ended in him being in one place and the ball being 10 yards from him and with a Bournemouth player who was laughing. Captain Hammond administered a deserved bollocking as we had 8 players forward at the time. Dickson probably needed to get to half time to settle down after that but he made the mistake of passing to The Late Paul Wotton who smashed it back at him, causing Dickson to ‘control’ the ball straight to Pitman who ran through and smashed wide across the goal. Looking back it was funny. You try and play a 1-2 but instead of a 1-2, it’s a 1-Fucking have it.
Half time and no Chuckle Brothers to listen to as I’m not in my usual seat. I survived this trauma and the teams emerged for the second half and it became apparent that Pards was not a fan of the Ryan Dickson comedy 10 minutes as Dan Harding was on in his place, determined to make up for his own comedy show on Saturday.
Saints on the attack and Dan Seaborne flicked a Puncheon corner goalwards where a defender did his job and easily headed it off the line. The shit ref was still giving Barnard nothing for being repeatedly assaulted and he repeated his first half masterclass by again giving Bournemouth a free kick on the edge of our box for completely sod all this time which once again, Pitman wasted, this time firing into the wall.
The game was beginning to open out a bit and on 65 minutes the deadlock was broken when Puncheon found Lallana, whose marker had dozed off a bit, who managed to cut onto his right foot and from 20 yards, curl a shot over Jalal and into the far top corner. Lovely goal and how the Bournemouth boy enjoyed it. He celebrated by getting cramp and 10 minutes later was replaced by Lee Holmes.
Bournemouth weren’t threatening much and they must have been delighted to see Sir Rickie come on for Barnard for the last 10 minutes. Barnard led line superbly in my opinion and had run himself into the ground for the cause. Saints looked a team transformed with the substitution though and Sir Rickie immediately fastened onto a Hammond pass and after a little run, forced Jalal into a low save.
Sir Rickie and Deano were again involved five minutes later as they combined to send Chamberlain through. Keeper and centre half should have dealt with it but they were indecisive and following a bit of a lucky rebound, Chamberlain was left with the ball and and empty goal to roll it into. Two nil, game over, Carling Cup Round 2 here we come.
In the end it was quite comfortable but for the first half, Bournemouth played well and gave us problems and we gave them the opportunity to give us problem by not looking after the ball well enough. Once the goal went in it was never in doubt and we closed it out with ease. The goal for Chamberlain was the icing on the cake and it’s always nice to see a young kid get a goal. I thought Barnard was the best player on the pitch for us, leading the line, winning far more headers than he should have done and generally holding up play really well. He doesn’t seem to be very popular with referees though as this is not the first game he's been given sod all despite being repeatedly thumped about. However well he played though, the side looked completely different when Sir Rickie came on and his presence caused the confusion which led to the goal which Alex Chamberlain can talk about is assembly when he goes back to school tomorrow. Jason Puncheon deserves a mention as he stuck at it today despite not having too good a first half and he started to play well with 20 minutes left. He’s never afraid to try stuff and even though he cocks it up on a regular basis, he’s worth persevering with no matter how frustrating he is at times.
Pards used his post match interview to describe how a nervous and negative atmosphere in the crowd can transmit to the players. He didn’t mince his words and told it how it is and you have to love him for that. In addition of course, he’s dead right. What are we doing there if we’re not ‘supporters’. Supporting Saints has never been easy has it?
So, ‘Do I hate Bournemouth?’ No. I want them to do well as they play the right way and I admire the fact that they got promoted, whilst under a proper transfer embargo. This is the kind of embargo where you can’t sign players and not a Pompey embargo where you can take the piss and cheat and get round it somehow. Fair play to the 4000 who turned up today and I hope they have a good season. I don’t fancy losing to them however as their fans (and Chairman) will give it the large one, so I hope they suck in the two league games we play against them. Their problem is going to be scoring goals though both wingers, Pugh and Feeney looked decent in the first half before fading a bit in the second. Pitman has to be a better player than he showed today as well. Defensively they looked ok but if I supported them, I’d be worried about how many headers Barnard won today and he’s about 5 foot 2 – just wait until you meet the teams with the obligatory League 1, 6 foot 5 centre forward.
Next up is the Fake Dons away and their manager is Karl ‘Bell End’ Robinson who was their assistant manager last year who specialised in talking complete and utter toss before and after each of the four wins we had against them. Keep your eyes peeled for some comedy gold in the press and on the web before Saturday’s game or maybe, just maybe, as he’s the No 1 now, he’ll shut the fuck up.
One final thought for the day… the dropping of the Oxlade. If, as I assume, Mrs Oxlade is his mother, will she be pissed off that her name has been dropped ? Also, will the oddly named Jordace Holder-Spooner-and-a-Forker have to sort out his name as well?
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