Keep The Faith

AFC Bournemouth enter the busy Christmas period with only one win in nine and with some defensive injury worries.

 Central defender Elliott Ward has been ruled out for a couple of weeks and Steve Cook is unlikely to feature against Brighton after being stretchered off against Derby County.

Cook’s injury is not as bad as first feared but it is believed he has some ankle ligament damage and will face a struggle to be back fit in the next week or so.

Cook who in my opinion has been the outstanding Cherries player this season, will be disappointed to miss out against his former side Brighton on Saturday.

The injuries will give an opportunity for captain Tommy Elphick also a former Brighton player, to claim his place back in the starting line up, Elphick has found himself a bit part player so far this season but will be hoping to impress on Saturday.

Now on to the positives, the return of Matt Ritchie last week was like signing a new star player and I believe that the live Sky game on Saturday against Brighton will give Ritchie the platform to announce his return to fitness.

Ritchie who was named League One player of the year last year will be eager to impress at Championship level and may be the catalyst for our team to start scoring at home again.

This week has also seen AFCB sign Arsenal youngster Nico Yennaris who has been capped at England under 19 level can play in Midfield or Defence and looks an exciting prospect.

Eddie Howe has also extended the loan deal of outstanding West Brom goalkeeper Lee Camp, who has signed on till January.

Brighton will be a tough prospect on Saturday and is the start of a very interesting week for the Cherries, we travel to London to face QPR on Tuesday night followed by an away trip to Reading a week on Saturday.

 It will be interesting to see how we fair against three top teams in the Championship.

As for Saturday lets hope we can start scoring at home again I am back Ritchie to make an impact and for us to get a result.

Prediction Cherries 2-1

Keep The Faith.

Essential Cherries

AFC BOURNEMOUTH VS MILLWALL

The Cherries face Millwall tomorrow and look to change their fortunes after suffering two defeats in four days.

A poor performance against Blackburn last Saturday and a midweek defeat away to Leeds has seen AFCB drop to 13^th in the league.

 Millwall visit the south coast after winning three out of their last four games and their improved form has seen them move from the bottom of the table to 15^th.

AFCB signed goalkeeper Stephen Henderson on loan from West Ham until January to provide cover for the suspended Ryan Alsop and injured Darryl Flahaven.

Eddie Howe changed the system back to a 4-4-2 against Leeds utd and the Cherries put in a much better performance and where unlucky not to come away with a point.

I think it will be a tight affair tomorrow but we will come out on top, our defensive record is poor so I believe there will be goals.

Essential Cherries prediction: AFCB 2-1Millwall

AFC BOURNMOUTH VS BARNSLEY

By Essential Cherries Rich

Bournemouth got back to winning ways at home with a 1-0 win over Barnsley.

Mark Pugh capped off a five day period which included the only goal in the game, and the birth of his second child.

In a game that the fans may have expected more from but in truth delivered little, saw the Cherries move up to seventh in the table.

Eddie Howe gave a second chance to the players that started against Blackpool by naming an unchanged side, but included new signing Tokelo Rantie on a subs bench that consisted of both Ian Harte and Richard Hughes.

In all honesty, Bournemouth controlled most of the game, including arguably a very flat first half.

 Barnsley appeared to find kicking into open space a more productive attacking method in comparison to the Cherries more traditional style of possession.

 The only major incident to occur during the first half was a booking to Barnsley forward Chris Dagnall, for what appeared to be a very meaty challenge on Brett Pitman.

For all their possession the Cherries could only create a couple of tame efforts from Ryan Fraser and an off target header from Pitman.

The Cherries were almost made to pay for their casualness when Barnsley struck the post twice within a matter of seconds, firstly Chris O’Gradys shot from the left where he had found some space came off the right hand post and this was followed up by Steve Dawson who seemed to get the better of Allsop, only to see his rebounding shot strike the same upright.

Bournemouth finished the half strong with a number of crosses from Charlie Daniels, this momentum was met with roars from the crowd that was also in aid of Ranties first warm up along the pitch.

Words from Eddie Howe at half time must have worked as Bournemouth almost broke the deadlock just minutes into the second half as Lewis Grabban, through on goal dragged an excellent chance wide.

Again the Cherries fans were up in applause, the biggest of the night when on 55 minutes Rantie was introduced to the Goldsands replacing Fraser.

Rantie looked dangerous with his first touch on the ball, but unfortunately dragged a chance wide of the Barnsley goal.

From this point on, the Cherries took full control of the game with further chances from Rantie, Ward and Grabban.

The breakthrough came in the 77^th minute when Pugh found himself with the ball at his feet he managed to shake off his marker just outside the 18 yard box and drive a low range shot into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.

Although the win looked clear cut after, this there was to be one final heart in mouth moment! O’Gradys run minutes before full time found himself in a great shooting position, only for Ward to provide a much needed block which rolled away for a wasted corner by Barnsley.

A fourth win for the Cherries in seven games gives much hope to the home fans who are riding a wave of the unknown and hoping that Eddie Howe can cement his place amongst some of the clubs great managers by leading the club to further wins this season….the next being away to Middlesborough

Bournemouth 1 – 0 Barnsley

Attendance: 7574

Cherries Star Man: Mark Pugh

AFCB VS Blackpool

The Cherries suffered their first home defeat of the season at the hands of table topping Blackpool.

The visitors run out 2-1 winners in an incident packed match to remain top of the table and unbeaten in the Championship.

AFC Bournemouth made only one change to the team that beat Doncaster, Eunan O’ Kane replaced the injured Harry Arter.

The Cherries started brightly and had a chance to be ahead in the first minute but Lewis Grabben couldn’t direct his header on target after Brett Pitman found him with a superbly weighted pass.

Blackpool made us pay straight away and took the lead after seven minutes when Ricardo Fuller headed in unmarked from a dangerous cross.

The Cherries hit back almost instantly when a Steve Cook long throw was flicked on and superbly slotted away by Grabben.

AFCB spurred on by the equaliser had their best spell of pressure in the first half playing some nice football.

Blackpool got back into the game ten minutes before the break, managers son and former Liverpool youth player Tom Ince saw more of the ball and almost restored the lead when he went past Charlie Daniels into the box but his shot came back off of the post.

The Cherries started the second half slowly and where punished almost instantly when Neal Bishops glancing near post header from a Tom Ince corner restored Blackpool’s lead.

The game was turned on its head when on loan Liverpool defender Jack Robinson was shown a second yellow card and Blackpool where reduced to ten men, for a foul on flying winger Ryan Fraser.

The Cherries had a lot of possession and dominated the play without really creating a lot of clear cut opportunities.

The games second bit of controversy came when substitute Nathan Delfouneso missed an opportunity when through one on one with Ryan Allsop, Blackpool manager Paul Ince in frustration threw a bottle to the ground which bounced into the crowd and hit a steward on the foot.

Ince was sent to the stands by referee Oliver Langford, the decision delighted the North Stand and prompted them to chant “Where’s your daddy gone” at Tom Ince.

The Cherries best chances fell to substitute Wes Thomas; the striker headed over from a Simon Francis cross and then was unlucky to see his shot from inside the box deflected agonisingly over the bar.

Both teams rightly had goals ruled out for offside and Blackpool held on to claim victory.

The Cherries where certainly not at their best on Saturday but I felt we deserved a draw, I was impressed with Tom Ince and he certainly looks like a player with a bright future.

From our perspective I think it is a good thing that we have Barnsley at home on Tuesday night hopefully we can bounce straight back from that defeat.

I am looking forward to the day when we can have all our key players fit, just think we have 

Coulibaly, Arter, Rantie and Ritchie to come back in the side.

AFCB 1-2 Blackpool

Attendance 9,446

Cherries star man: Steve Cook

AFC BOURNEMOUTH VS BLACKPOOL PREVIEW

AFC Bournemouth host high flying Blackpool on Saturday in the first match since the departure of Chairman Eddie Mitchell.

The Cherries had an eventful August, winning three games and losing two, leaving them an impressive sixth in the Championship.

Chairman Eddie Mitchell sold the family stake in the club to Russian co-owner Maxim Denim.

 The Cherries also reportedly broke their transfer record by signing South African striker Tokelo Rantie from Swedish side Malmo, for an undisclosed fee.

Paul Ince and his team visit the south coast in high spirits, currently sitting top of the Championship and undefeated in the league.

Blackpool also managed to hold on to their most talented player in the summer transfer window, manager Paul Ince’s son, Tom.

The Cherries hold a one hundred percent home record and will be eager to continue their home run on Saturday.

Hopefully the international break will have given Eddie Howe enough time to get his key men fit and ready for a busy September.

After Blackpool the Cherries face a visit from Barnsley on Tuesday night in what is sure to be a great week of Championship football.

Saturday prediction: AFCB 2-1 Blackpool