AFCB's brave point will revitalise the team

There will not be many more hard earned points than that won at the Riverside yesterday. While going 0:2 up would seem like it was going to be a comfortable afternoon for the Cherries, bad luck and a dogged fight by the Middlesbrough team made it a very difficult 90 minutes for AFCB in the end. The fact that Boro did get their noses ahead 3:2 and looked like winning the game is what Bournemouth can draw on for inspiration in future games. They came from behind in the end and salvaged a draw.

Eddie Howe thought it was a very brave performance. "It was an excellent performance for us even if we had got beaten. We came here with a game plan to try and pass the ball and we needed to be brave and we certainly did that, some times probably too much... We went toe-to-toe with a really good football team and tried to out football them," said Eddie. "We had a great start and they showed their quality by coming back into it and then we showed great character to get a leveller.

"It is easy at that stage of the game to feel sorry for yourself." said Eddie Howe. "Be unlucky losers...everyone says unlucky and we go again, but the players showed great character from that point on we were the dominant team. We had a second wind in effect and scored a deserved goal."

The amazing thing is that that AFCB's third goal was more or less earned by Elliott Ward's presence in the opposition's box and his calm manner when being closed down. We have run a poll in the last week to ask who will be AFCB's first defender to score and most of you plumped for Elliott and he so nearly delivered, although the final goal was as an own goal by Jonathan Woodgate. To me it doesn't matter. The ball crossed the line and Ward had made a nuisance of himself up front as far as the opposition was concerned when the game seemed all but lost for the Cherries.

Eddie Howe could only shower further praise on the former Norwich defender: "He showed real quality and he's done that a few times when he has marauded forward and he's shown real quality. It was a really good goal, really well worked. A lot of our football was really brave today. We received the ball deep in our half under pressure and  that pleases me more than anything as we really have to be different. We really have to try and break the mould  to be successful this year an the players have certainly taken that on today.