Cherries: The real evidence points towards another farce (From Bournemouth Echo)

Cherries: The real evidence points towards another farce

7:00am Monday 1st March 2010 in

By Ian Wadley »

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IF it had not centred on AFC Bournemouth, this story would have been barely believable.

Just one professional player on the bench, two crocked stars forced to watch from the stands and a 16-year-old schoolboy making a last-gasp 216-mile dash to ease the crisis.

It might sound like the latest episode of Dream Team, but Harchester United this was not.

For the football club based in sleepy Dorset, this was just another average day. Dean Court and dramas go hand in hand – the club has previous.

From protracted takeover sagas, transfer embargoes and winding-up petitions to great escapes, Cherries’ long-suffering fans have experienced it all. And that’s just in the past year.

Saturday was another classic plot from the Cherries soap opera.

As Eddie Howe explained the build-up his side had endured, two seasoned reporters from Shrewsbury shook their heads as they tried to take it all in. It was easy to understand their disbelief.

Captain Jason Pearce and winger Liam Feeney both went down with last-minute training-ground injuries on Friday.

With just one fit pro to sit on the bench, Howe revealed that he made a last-ditch approach to the Football League for permission to recruit an emergency loanee – on the morning of the game.

Howe reported that the league asked for medical evidence on injuries and – given the tight timeframe – that all but ruled out the hope of reinforcements and forced depleted Cherries to soldier on.

Sitting alongside substitute Jeff Goulding was youth team keeper Dan Thomas, numerous times-retired assistant boss Jason Tindall and rookie Jayden Stockley. The latter, adding to the irresistible tale, arrived late for kick-off and missed the warm-up due to the 11th hour nature of his call-up. He didn’t even have a shirt with his name or number on it.

The league’s strict embargo on new signings is in place for a good reason – Thursday’s revelations about the club’s latest scrape with the tax man is proof of that.

But it was hard not to sympathise with Howe when he described the “ridiculous” circumstances he found himself in just hours before a vital match. Surely leaving out a captain and another star player is evidence enough of their injuries. But perhaps not for the Football League.

All this was hardly an ideal build-up for such an important promotion showdown.

With the likes of makeshift centre-half Warren Cummings forced to play out of position, a difficult afternoon looked on the cards.

But Howe’s team have proven before that they are not quick to conform to the predictable.

Against an in-form Shrewsbury side also intent on escaping English football’s basement division, the men from Dean Court produced a purposeful first-half performance which belied their problems.

Even Shrews boss Paul Simpson confessed his team were second best in the opening 45 minutes.

He admitted: “Bournemouth put us under a lot of pressure and we struggled against them in the first half – we accept that.

“I thought we struggled in the first half against Steve Fletcher – he was a handful – and against Brett Pitman, who I think is a very good player.”

Howe added: “We will just plough on. There are only a few games to go and we are still in there fighting for automatic promotion, which would be a miracle really.”

And regardless of the result at the Prostar Stadium, Cherries showed enough to suggest they could take the race down to the wire. Despite what preceded the match, Howe’s side looked the livelier team in the early stages.

With Pitman taking up some intelligent positions between the hosts’ midfield and defence – and Cherries putting together some confident passing sequences – an unlikely victory was not out of the question.

Top scorer Pitman again posed virtually all the goal threat and he shot wide and headed over after twice being expertly teed up by Lee Bradbury.

Sickeningly for Cherries, though, they were made to pay the ultimate price for not capitalising on their good work when Simpson’s men took the lead soon after the interval via a frustratingly scrappy strike.

After Jamie Cureton had weaved his way into the box, the loose ball was expertly finished by Terry Dunfield, who redeemed himself for the own goal he scored at Dean Court in December by firing low past Shwan Jalal from 12 yards.

As Cherries chased the game, Alan Connell and Pitman had decent goal attempts, but the cutting edge of the first half was not replicated and holes were being left at the other end for Cureton-inspired Shrewsbury to exploit.

The Norwich City loan man was only denied a goal when his vicious volley was kept out by a truly terrific reaction save from Jalal, who blotted his copybook with some wayward kicking.

Only the woodwork and a goal-line clearance by Connell prevented the Shrews from extending their lead late on, with Jake Robinson and the impressive Lewis Neal the unlucky players.

When asked whether leading Cherries to promotion would rank as the finest achievement of his career, Howe answered emphatically: “Without a shadow of a doubt – by a long, long way. Not just for me but for every individual player as well. I would be surprised if they had a better story to tell come the end of their careers.”

The embargo and injuries could scupper persistent, second-placed Cherries. But this most unlikely of Dean Court stories may yet have a happy ending.

Comments(35)

Bournemouth person says...
8:04am Mon 1 Mar 10

Ian's excellent article sums up much of the situation. Its beyond comprehension why AFCB has to suffer this injustice and its miraculous that we are second in the league! Our town is so fortunate to be home to such a superb team. From top to bottom - all on AFCB's payroll (and the many who help for no pay) are stars.