Confidence booster for AFCB

I forgot to thank the maintenance man at Dean Court for putting that extra layer of paint on the goal posts for the last match. It was probably that which prevented Bansley from scoring in the first half. In all seriousness though, it should be a big boost to the team to get another clean sheet under its belt, having been a little under the cosh shall we say for long periods of the first 45 minutes against the Tykes.

Allsop will aim to keep more clean sheets.

Ryan Allsop may not have had a great deal to do for most of the match but those standing in front of him were working very hard to keep Barnsley out. I'm a little worried that Daniels could be out for a while yet again. The team is so much more stable with him at left back.

Eddie Howe has some thinking to do over how to play away from home and, if he reverts to a back four, Ian Harte will be favourite to come into the starting line up. However, I could equally see him shifting Cook over to the left back position and starting with Elphick and Ward as the two centre backs and Francis on the right against Middlesbrough.

While Allsop has been picking the ball out of the net a lot this season it does not seem to have got his confidence down at all. I am so pleased about that because he will be learning all the time he is facing the best attackers that the division has to throw at him, and if he was dropped it would mean that he was not learning as fast in my opinion.

While that may seem harsh on Flahavan, I think most fans would say that Allsop has more than proved that he is the best keeper at the club and, unless he gets injured, we need him to play as many games as he can. I am not too sure how many clean sheets we kept last season but I wouldn't bet against Allsop looking to beat that, despite that record breaking run that the team went on then.