Saturday 14 September 2013

Breaking Blackpool's rock hard defence

AFCB will look to breakthrough the stubborn resistance of Blackpool's rock like defence on Saturday. Lewis Grabban is my bet for an early break through goal as he has looked the most dangerous of the Cherries' strikers so far. If Tokelo Rantie is sitting in the stands there could be no better incentive for our strikers to get on the score sheet.

Brett Pitman has a point to prove perhaps with his decision not to go an join Blackpool a few seasons ago. He will be looking to score his first home goal in the Championship and, if the Cherries are awarded a penalty, I would expect him to step up to take it.

Outsiders to score are probably our central defenders, but at some point I think Cook or Ward are going to show that they can do more than just shut out the other team. There has been no pressure put on Ryan Fraser to open his account apart from what he himself aims to achieve, but the right winger could cap-off what has been a superb start to his career in the Championship with a goal. I can't think of any other player who would get a bigger reception from the home supporters if he scored than Ryan, so I will have my fingers crossed for him in particular.

Harry Arter has yet to dominate a game like he did so often for the Cherries last season and he is also due a goal. The battling midfielder is one of those who I believe can deliver more than he has been showing so far and if he can ratchet up his performance it could be a much harder game for the seaside visitors than they might be expecting. Having heard Marc Pugh and Laura Pugh's good news yesterday, on their new daughter, I hope that Marc can score a goal for his new born child - queue the arm swinging baby celebrations!

The recent Hot Radio interview with Eddie Howe pointed towards one or two more injuries to AFCB players in training. I have my fingers crossed that it is not Charlie Daniels, Simon Francis or Steve Cook. Still the squad is pretty strong now in just about all positions.

With Bournemouth's strong home record and Blackpool's good defence I can't see many goals coming in this match, but if the Cherries can start like they did against Doncaster, and take the initiative, it would be superb to get a result against the table toppers. They have done it in the past against Tranmere last year and Wycombe in 2009. Can they do it against Blackpool?

Send us in your score predictions to @peterbell19 on Twitter. I'll post a few before I leave to drive down for the match. UTCIAD!

If you have not yet read Rival Lines take a look as it gives you a good low down on the opposition courtesy of the Blackpool Supporters Association.

No comments:

Post a Comment

tag: