A MAY day in Morecambe or a Morecambe mayday? Only time will tell.

What started for Eddie Howe as a dark day in Darlington and continued with a wretched time in Rotherham could all end in glory against Grimsby.

Victory over the Mariners at Dean Court would preserve Cherries’ proud 86-year stay in the Football League and also make their trip to Morecambe academic.

Howe’s feet have hardly touched the floor since he was handed the poisoned chalice three months ago and expected to turn water into wine.

The good ship AFC Bournemouth was sinking without trace and one of its prodigal sons was tasked with charting an unlikely path to dry land.

Blown off course by defeats at Darlington and Rotherham during two games as caretaker, Howe started his permanent reign facing a 10-point deficit.

“At the time, I wasn’t thinking whether we might need anything from Grimsby or Morecambe,” Howe told the Daily Echo this week. “I was only looking two or three games ahead.

“The end of the season has crept up on us and it has gone so quickly. There have been ups and downs and, yes, there have been times when I would have taken needing something from the last day of the season.

“Rotherham was pretty low. The gap was 10 points and the team had lost four games on the spin. Things looked difficult at that stage and our next game was against Wycombe, who were top of league at the time.

“I knew we had a tough run of fixtures coming up and you do begin to wonder how you are going to get out of it. People were being critical after Rotherham, which was their right.”

The tide turned immediately and a remarkable run of just one defeat in seven was highlighted by an astonishing victory at Dagenham and Redbridge on February 24, their first away win in five months.

“It was certainly a high,” said Howe. “We’d had one away win all season and had been battered for the first 25 minutes. But the lads defended terrifically and it was real backs-to-the-wall stuff.

“It was a great winning goal from Mark Molesley with the last kick and an assist from Jason Tindall. You couldn’t have made it up!”

Despite the prospect of an early settlement, Howe is understandably taking nothing for granted: “It is still going to be tight but it always was. We were never going to be safe with four or five games to go, not from the position we were in three months ago.

“We’ve got a chance of being safe before the last game of the season and I don’t think too many people would have given us that a few months ago. I can’t speak highly enough of the players.

“Grimsby are a much-improved side and will be transformed from the one we drew with at their place. They will be much stronger than they were that night. They’ve done extremely well to get themselves out of the trouble they were in.

“The game takes on huge importance for both clubs. We don’t want it to go down to Morecambe.

“We’d like to get it done in front of our own fans and finish off what has been a very turbulent season.”