Eddie got his tactics right

I'm pretty sure that Eddie Howe was feeling the pressure ahead of the Reading game. It was not that the Cherries had been playing badly, but they just hadn't got more than the odd point in the last dozen games. All you need then is to face another top six side away from home! However, the Reading game is virtually a derby for Bournemouth fans, and when you have more than 2000 willing your team on Eddie Howe must have told his players that it was time to forget about the last month or so and to go out and get the victory for the club, fans and for themselves.

The Bournemouth bench at the Madejski stadium.

The lads played with the passion and intensity to frustrate Reading. It was vital that the Cherries set their stall out to deny Reading that early breakthrough. So often we have seen Bournemouth fail to put up a strong enough defence against teams that really come at them, but that didn't happen at the Madejski. AFCB have been getting better organised away from home, but getting to half time being two-nil up was a massive boost that carried the team through.

The pleasing thing was that AFCB did not get deflected from their task when Reading were pounding the Bournemouth end with corner upon corner. The midfield three of Arter, Surman and O'Kane just formed a solid barrier through which the Royals could not break through. They were forced out to the wings and Daniels and Francis were ready for them, with Ritchie and Pugh also protecting the flanks. Any high balls that did make it into the box were swallowed up by Cook and Elphick. Lee Camp also showed his maturity with a confident catching display.  

Reading's Nigel Adkins said after the game that he was disappointed that they had not worked Lee Camp harder, but that was down to how hard AFCB worked in defence to keep Guthrie out of range and deny Billy Sharp of any easy opportunity in the box. They had not managed to do that as well in midweek when they played QPR, but AFCB are work in progress and now that they know they can shut out teams like Reading for a large part of the game that should give them confidence.

I am looking forward to the next few games now as it looks like the team has turned a corner and coming off the back of a hard series of games it has probably done them a lot of good. We could now see AFCB flourish.   

All Departments has also released its Kangreoo Court podcast on the 1:2 victory at Reading. Visit All Departments' website or listen on Cherry Chimes by clicking on the sound bar in the panel on the right hand side of this blog, just below popular posts.