AFCB will come good with returning players

Listening to the match at Nottingham Forest you could tell that the Cherries were benefiting from the energy and speed of Adam Smith and Ryan Fraser on the left side. Eddie Howe has really kept with the first 11 for a long time without making many changes, but the season is long and the number of games has been taking its toll on the Cherries.

Whoever starts in red and black we will give them our full support.

It is arguable that Harry Arter got his suspension at just the wrong time and that Shaun MacDonald has not been able to fit straight into his shoes straight away with such direct runs at goal. But things are about to change with players now coming back into contention. Harry will of course be fired up and will be desperate to get back on the pitch.

Harry Arter should be back in favour.

Elliott Ward awaits his chance.

The loan window has not been a great help to the Cherries and probably won't be now. With Tokelo Rantie having got a few minutes at Forest and with Yann Kermorgant likely to be back in the squad, the team should start to look strong again. Whether Yann is feeling good enough to start will probably be Eddie's biggest decision and if Brett Pitman keeps his place the fans will want to see him running his socks off and having plenty of efforts on goal. 

The decision of who to play and who to leave on the bench will be quite a hard one for the Blackburn match. I have not heard any calls for Elliott Ward yet, but with the manner of the goals that have been going in against AFCB it won't be long before Elliott does get a start if the current players can't keep some clean sheets. 

Hang in there AFCB fans the race is not over yet. At least I was pleased to see that our little poll about the next two matches indicates that most have you are still expecting the Cherries to bring home some points against Blackburn and Wolves. But I also see that there is a tie for the second most popular amount of points between 4, 3 and 0 points so there is still quite a bit of fear that the disappointing run might not be over yet. You still ahve a bit of time to vote if you have not yet.

Let's see if they can make a good start in getting the first three points against Blackburn. Our team really need a 12th man today and all of us have to play our part in that - sing up for the lads. UTCIAD!

Cherry Chimes March Newsletter - out tomorrow!
Tomorrow I'll be releasing the Cherry Chimes March Newsletter which picks over the top stories from the blog this past February. 

You can read extra posts there entitled 'Oh no! reality check' and 'Money, money, money' which asks is that what AFCB's success has been really down to.

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