Ian Harte off the mark

Ian Harte has opened his account then by scoring against Birmingham last weekend. I sent a message to him for the previous game hoping that he would score against Leeds, one of his former teams. He didn't quite manage it then but wasn't it good to see him do the business against Birmingham.

Ian gets his first AFCB Worldie!

The way the goal came to Ian was not quite how I would have expected him to score. It was a dead ball situation that I thought would give him the best opportunity. But the way the corner came back out to him gave him the time to move around a player before coming back inside to steer a curling shot with that magic left peg of his past Randolph into the top left hand corner of the net.

Heading practise for Ian and the other defenders.

It was typical of Ian to also offer Jordon Ibe a pair of his boots after the game having seen the Man Utd loanee have his problems with footwear during the game, when the first goal went in. I'm not sure if the former Wycombe player was always a fan of Ian's but hopefully he has the same sized feet.

In the last few games I have felt that Ian has certainly been playing his best football. The run of games he has had in the team has helped Eddie Howe to get the best out of him and we are now seeing why he has been a quality left back for the last 15 years. He has the ability to beat a player with some ease and he has been doing that on the half way line as well as around the box this season. But the real damage he causes is with that special left foot - too hot for him to touch was the message after he fired AFCB 0-4 up against Birmingham. He looked like he is loving it here on the south coast and I have already been pleading with Eddie Howe to give Ian another year's contract.

AFC Bournemouth released this YouTube video over the weekend. 
If you have not seen it, Ian Harte is in play-off talking mood.

While Charlie Daniels will soon be coming back into contention we hope, I would say that Ian Harte's contribution to the team has been more significant than many of us have seen. He has been there contributing to the clean sheets and he has been very solid in his performances. Keep it up Ian, Cherry Chimes is a big fan.

Look out for Michael Dunne's All Departments Kangaroo Court podcast this morning which reviews the win against Birmingham. Visit Michael's All Departments site, I'll put the sound bar on Cherry Chimes as well later today