BACK in the bad old days, when uncertainty lurked menacingly around every dark corner at Dean Court, Cherries fans had trouble thinking with any degree of positivity.

Some still yearn for that backs-against-the-wall mentality, living hand to mouth and existing in the Football League through little more than gritted teeth. It was dangerous, but made them feel alive.

But one glorious, sunny day in Burton Upon Trent, of all places, surrounded by evidence of the town’s brewery heritage, Cherries made a toast to the future. They just didn’t know it yet.

Saturday felt a little like that day at the Pirelli Stadium on April 24, 2010. A beautiful spring afternoon, albeit a little chilly this time, the crisp air filled with optimism and a sense that something special, rather than incertitude, was imminent.

The other similarity? A goal from Brett Pitman.

Pitman struck in the 66th minute at Burton three years ago, before Alan Connell’s 90th-minute goal sealed Cherries’ promotion back into this league. With that result, two years of turmoil was washed away and a brighter future was born.

The importance of this victory over Notts County was clearly not on the same level, either on or off the pitch. This is a very different football club now.

But as soon as Pitman’s 26th-minute finish had hit the back of the net here on Saturday, it looked very much like another date crossed off on Eddie Howe’s run-in calendar.

This was Cherries’ sixth straight victory. Six down, three to go.

That kind of game-by-game assessment of Cherries’ promotion bid suits Howe. Never one to get ahead of himself, he jested with the waiting press on Saturday after spotting one Echo scribe checking the League One table on his smart phone.

“You’re not looking at league tables, are you?” he joked.

When it was suggested that the standings looked rather good, Howe simply replied: “Yes.”

The Cherries faithful are finding it much harder to keep their feet so firmly planted on the ground.

The dream is close now and the April sun is warming, just as it did three years ago in East Staffordshire.

Even after their team had been caught cold by Jeff Hughes’s headed opener inside the opening two minutes, there was no panic from the stands.

Confidence, not fear, pulses through the veins of this club nowadays.

It took a further 15 minutes, but Matt Ritchie was on hand to slot home from inside the 18-yard box to level the score. The little winger’s goal owed much to Marc Pugh and Charlie Daniels’s work in the build-up.

The pair mesmerised the East Stand with some stunning link-up play before Daniels’s ball across the penalty box fell to Ritchie, who drove low into the net.

Prior to that, Simon Francis saw his effort saved by Bartosz Bialkowski. A Pitman strike whistled past the post.

The supporters knew what was coming, though. Cherries’ dominance increased with every passing minute.

And Pitman’s sixth goal in six games on 26 minutes to make it 2-1 ensured the half-time terrace chat focused on a scoreline that was a fair reflection of an, at times, breathless opening 45 minutes.

Pugh’s ball to Pitman on the edge of the box was placed neatly into the path of Matt Tubbs before ricocheting back to Pitman. The Jerseyman buried his right-foot shot past Bialkowski into the far corner.

County felt Tubbs had handled prior to Pitman pulling the trigger. Referee David Phillips felt not and allowed Pitman to claim his 16th goal of the season. He only returned in December.

The impressive Francis sent Pitman through on goal again before half-time but his effort from around 20 yards missed the target, before Magpies’ Andre Boucaud was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

Boucaud had failed to learn the lesson from his first caution and deserved to go for persistent, petty misconduct, his foul on Harry Arter the final straw for Phillips.

To their credit, County defended with real grit after the restart, clearing wave after wave of red and black attack. They had to, as Cherries refused to settle for 2-1.

Although Ryan Allsop had to be on his toes to parry a classy free kick from Joss Labadie, Tubbs twice headed clear from defence and Steve Cook made a stunning last-ditch tackle as Enoch Showunmi shaped to shoot, County’s attacking invention was lacking in quality and was too brief in its intensity. They were unable to build any sustained pressure.

At the other end, Cherries were almost rewarded for their patience in crafting their own openings, but Bialkowski was equal to Arter’s drive. Tubbs’s appeals for a penalty following a robust challenge from Jamal Campbell-Ryce were waved away by Phillips.

Ritchie, though, made it 3-1 five minutes from time. Lewis Grabban, during a lively 20-minute cameo from the bench, worked his way towards the byline down the right before cutting back to Ritchie whose left-foot effort beat Bialkowski.

So, six down, three to go, although Howe won’t look too far beyond the trip to Shrewsbury. Cherries supporters will be quietly dreaming of springs past and hoping the sun continues to shine.

 

Match stats and Echo merit marks

Cherries: Allsop 7.5, Francis 8, Cook 8, Elphick 8, Daniels 8.5, Ritchie 8, O’Kane 7.5 (MacDonald, 76), Arter 7.5, Pugh 7.5 (Fogden, 87), Tubbs 7.5 (Grabban, 70), Pitman 8.

Unused subs: McQuoid, Seaborne, R Hughes, Jalal (g/k).

Booked: Francis.

Magpies: Bialkowski, Kelly (Arquin, 85), Leacock, Liddle, Sheehan, Campbell-Ryce, Boucaud, Labadie (Tempest, 67), Bishop, J Hughes, Showunmi (Waite, 74).

Unused subs: Smith, Zoko, Thompson, Spiess (g/k).

Booked: Labadie, Boucaud, Liddle.

Sent-off: Boucaud.

Attendance: 7,551 (including 293 visiting supporters).

Referee: David Phillips (West Sussex).

 

Star man - Charlie Daniels

Cherries’ marauding left-back has been a key figure in their end-of-season revival and was again pivotal to this sixth win in succession.

Converted from a winger to a defender by Martin Jol during his time at Spurs, Daniels’s attacking prowess was a feature of the victory.

County had no answer as Daniels embarked on a series of lung-bursting runs down the flank and delivered a constant supply of probing crosses.

He linked superbly with Marc Pugh before providing the assist for Matt Ritchie to level, atoning in the process after being partly culpable in the lead up to County’s opener.

Fellow full-back Simon Francis was another star turn, while central defenders Tommy Elphick and Steve Cook hardly put a foot wrong after being caught cold early on.