League 1 Match 10 - Southampton 2 Bournemouth 0

Pinder - Discovered on Bournemouth Beach - a tenuous link I know

Bournemouth at home in what was being ramped up from Dorset as being the South Coast Derby. It most definitely isn’t. As I previously explained in the blog about the Carling Cup game – we don’t particularly care but you do start to care when the build up to the game is dominated by the bell end of a Chairman, Dick Mitchell who makes sure it’s all about him, claiming that he’s been banned from St Mary’s and all other sorts of shit. This follows on from the ‘stagnant’ comment and the ‘Eddie Howe turned down the job’ load of bollocks. It would be interesting if someone on Radio Solent could ask Eddie Howe if he was offered the Saints job and turned it down? I’m curious and I’m sure that many others are. Anyway, so the Bournemouth Chairman is a twat and we needed to win – nothing new.

Bournemouth were 2nd in the table going into the game and we were nowhere so it would be a stern test and for any stern test, you need your best players and so Jose Fonte returned in place of Radhi Jaidi and Adam Lallana was deemed fit enough to start in place of Alex Chamberlain who found himself on the bench alongside Richard Chaplow who was one of our hundred or so loan players when we were financially imploding four years ago. Still only 25 but looking not a day under 50, he was back on loan from Preston for a month to cover the potential suspension of Hammond and international call up of Schneiderlin. Since the Carling Cup game, Bournemouth have sold their main striker in Brett Pitman and replaced him with a kid called Josh McQuoid but the goals had kept flowing so I was interested to see how good the front two of McQuoid and Symes were. At kickoff, St Mary’s was looking like a proper football ground with nearly 26,200 in place – higher than most Premiership attendances today. In my opinion, they should have sold the Northam/Itchen corner to Bournemouth as well to ramp up the atmosphere even more.
Saints started well but Bournemouth started better and in their first attack, following two attempted headers from Seaborne where he got totally under the ball and missed it, Feeney curled a right footed shot against the post with Davis standing and watching. Saints swiftly broke away following the escape and Barnard wriggled through only to have his shot clawed away by Jalal from the kneeling position before Sir Rickie managed to hit the rebound at the only defender who was between him and the open goal. Great start to the game though.

Saints started passing the ball about with great aplomb and it was obvious that everyone wanted it and everyone looked relatively comfortable with it. Dean Hammond was demanding the ball off of the full backs and Schneiderlin’s more advanced midfield position was causing a few problems for Bournemouth as he kept himself involved. Bournemouth for their part seemed to be between two stools in that they were letting our full backs have the ball and build up play before trying to kick hell out of us in midfield.

A decent move resulted in Sir Rickie chasing down the ball over on the right hand side of the Bournemouth penalty area before tangling with Wiggins who seemed to bring him down. I assumed it was outside the box but the lino had the flag across the chest for a penalty. Ooooh – bit of a gift that. Subsequent replays have proved that it was given for handball which was a brilliant spot by the lino. He can’t score from open play but give him a penalty where he can take as much time as he likes and Sir Rickie will score, bang, high and central, a split second worry that it was going over from me and 1-0.

Going 1-0 down and what they believed at the time to be slightly dubious circumstances meant Bournemouth had to delve into the book of gameplans and they came up with ‘kick harder’. They had a right dirty niggly bastard, Bartley in midfield who was not only dirty but a whinging complaining tosser as well. Following a tangle with Schneiderlin, he quite clearly took a kick at him and the ref did nothing. It was blind side of the ref but the linesman who was standing in between me and the incident had a clear view – so why not wave the thing you have in your hand. We will forgive him this one though as he spotted the pen.

Harding was then crunched over in the left back slot by Feeney which should have brought a booking and then Schneiderlin was binned by Pearce as the ball broke into midfield. The ref had had enough and stopped play to book the Pearce but only after Fonte had put Puncheon clean through with just Jalal to beat. So – we were 1 on 1 with keeper and the ref pulls it back to give us a free kick on the half way line and book one of their players. Joke decision.

We were passing the ball about in expert fashion and really giving a lesson in possession football which was amazing given the hoofball rubbish we were churning out a few weeks back. Players like Hammond and Puncheon seemed revitalised and were giving massive performances compared to their previous efforts. Best player on the pitch though was Barnard who was dropping deep and picking the ball up, holding off the repeated efforts from Pearce and Garry to hoof him up in the air and keep the ball, keep us ticking over. Lallana was having a major impact on the game as well and was really a couple of levels higher than anyone on the opposition. We arrived at half time just the one goal to the good but it was a superb performance after the first minute and thoroughly deserved. Bournemouth for their part, had showed the square root of fuck all and the much vaunted Symes and McQuoid? Were they playing?

I expected Bournemouth to be closing down our full backs at the start of the second half to stop us from playing it out but they didn’t and so we kept on dominating the ball. They were trying to keep the ball more themselves but as we were pressing well when they had it, Puncheon managed to pinch the ball off of Smith, their right back and then followed thirty seconds of chaos as Jalal flew off his line to deny Barnard before going on a one man mission to get the ball back whilst his team-mates watched. Next he challenged Schneiderlin and the ball went lose again to the Frenchman who was bundled over by Bartley for another penalty. Predictably, Bartley threw his arms about like a girl and predictably, Sir Rickie crashed it into the net to make it 2-0.

Saints still controlled possession after this but you could sense that the game was won and that they knew it. Lallana was replaced with Chamberlain after 70, with Barnard being removed 5 minutes later, replaced by Richard Chaplow to bring a midfield hairdo not seen since the days of Chrissy Marsden football Genius. Chappy’s first contribution was to let the ball run away from him and go in over the top on Pearce which sparked a bit of a shoving match from the Bournemouth girls and ended with a yellow for Chappy and a yellow for Jalal who had run 40 yards to the linesman to ensure he got one as well. Bournemouth had thrown on Steve Fletcher by this point and he should have won a penalty when Fonte won the wrestling bout by two falls and a submission and Fletcher ended up with his shirt virtually pulled over his head. I can understand them being pissed about that one.

The ‘Persistent Fouling’ gameplan eventually came back to bite Bournemouth in the arse when Puncheon totally did Smith down the left only to be brought down, 2nd yellow, off you go. We got another free kick in a dangerous position after yet another Bournemouth foul which Sir Rickie curled over the wall for Jalal to pull one for the cameras. Nigel then did pull a funny one at the end with Sir Rickie being replaced by the Gulyman who played up front like a man who has never played up front before, though he did manage to lash one over the bar.

Full time and a first home win of the season in the league and 100% deserved. The better side won – of this there can be no dispute. Most of the ire of anyone of Bournemouth persuasion is going to be focussed on the referee and the two penalty decisions and sure enough, Eddie Howe referred to the referee as having ‘killed’ them. Yes they should have had a pen when Fonte and Fletcher were playing ‘get a room’ but comfortably the worst decision out there was when we were pulled back when Puncheon was clean through. I still can’t believe that, 24 hours later. The facts are that aside from the first two minutes, we were the better side throughout and totally deserved to win and they didn’t have a shot on goal all game. They had a little spell late on in the 2nd half when we’d substituted Lallana, Barnard and Lambert – three of our most influential players. Anyway, we won so who gives a flying one about anything else. I expect Eddie Howe will use the perceived injustice as a motivational aid when we go to Dean Court – a game which I expect to be a bit tasty.

There were so many of our players who put in big performances – Schneiderlin and Hammond bossed the midfield, Puncheon had his best game for about 4 months, not only looking a threat but winning his fair share of tackles and headers, Fonte was back to his imperious best and Seaborne overcame his dodgy start and put in a very solid performance. On top of this we had Lallana back who in ability terms, is head and shoulders above anyone and Barnard who was a constant pain in the arse for Bournemouth for the duration of his stay on the pitch. Butterfield and Harding were solid in defence and decent in attack, showing good movement and of course, best of all, everyone looked comfortable in possession. Sir Rickie was still a bit off but he’s scored twice and he’s getting there. Oh yeah, we had a goalkeeper out there as well but I won’t mention him by name as he only touched the ball about twice.

Nigel was happy afterwards and there was much to be happy about. Our lack of forwards on the bench is a bit of a worry, as is Schneiderlin being missing for the next match due to a call up to the French U21 squad. Typical – just as he starts consistently playing well for us. It is Tranmere at home next so I assume Chappy will slot into the midfield and that should be enough to get the 3 points from that game. It’s Chappy or Pulis I guess...

4 games unbeaten and looking upwards... now 15th.