The Cherries are now harder to beat

The Cherries have started to come to the boil in recent games. They are becoming so hard to beat that the fixtures are no longer frightening for our fans. It is always good to know that the back four and keeper are doing well, but they are dealing with different challenges all the time. Gestede was a real threat up front for Blackburn with his height and Rhodes was a constant threat who was trying to feed off all the balls played over the top for him. But the Cherries have become resilient and look more and more dangerous on the break against these big teams.

Solid team work is making the Cherries harder to beat.

While it might not be overly exciting to see a game with few clear shooting opportunities there is great value in having a solid defence. At half time yesterday both teams had had seven attempts to score with three of Blackburn's on target and two for AFCB. There was nothing in it in short. Considering the Cherries were away from home it was a good start to the game and most Bournemouth fans would have been happy enough with that.

The difference between winning and losing is minimal and when fortune favours you it's great to take the points on offer. Blackburn may have tried to knock the door down by battering AFCB's defence like they did at Dean Court, but Elphick, Cook, Francis and Harte are becoming very formidable opponents to the best strikers in the division.

The victories against Blackpool and Blackburn may not have been as thrilling as the Doncaster thumping, but I am scratching my head at how the team just could not get a clean sheet for months and now has three in a row. It makes all the difference to keep a clean sheet as that is what all the good teams do. Blackburn simply ran out of ideas against the Cherries last night. But don't forget that AFCB also now have some wonderful players that can create something out of nothing and that's all it needed to win a very tight game. UTCIAD!