It was just a perfect day

I'm still getting a thrill out of last weekend and hopefully it's still doing the same for you and for the players. When you go to Dean Court and you see the English Championship Trophy being unboxed in front of you and paraded on its stand for the fans and viewing public to see on TV, you know it is going to be a rather special day. It is really hard to imagine that AFCB are within touching distance of such a prize, but there is a buzz around the ground and the team that is willing them and Eddie to win their first title now and why not? Some team has to win it and the Cherries have been top for more weeks than any other team in the Championship even if the lead has changed some 19 times.

Wouldn't it be great if Tommy Elphick could be lifting this in May.

I must admit I was a bit transfixed by the sight of the silver work in front of me before the match against Middlesbrough. I never realised it was quite so intricately engraved and really a beautiful trophy. I wasn't the only one as many fans that were in the Family and Main stand were soon coming to take a look and having been so close to winning a title two season's ago, you get the feeling that the club knows it has to seize the moment now if it is going to do justice to all the hard work that has been put into the season so far.

Seizing the moment is certainly what happened on 21 March when Eddie's team set about making the best defensive side in the league look extremely average or out of sorts against a rampaging Cherries side that created chance after chance and was by far the better side on the day. 

With the sun casting shadows over the pitch by the time the final whistle had gone, I knew that this had been a very special day. Even Eddie Howe looked like he was relaxed and enjoying the moment although that might have been helped by the thought of the team about to fly off for a few days in the sun - well at least the players not on international duty. The Dubai training camp will really concentrate the players' minds on what is ahead of them and I hope that it is a positive battery charger for them. I think hanging around at home waiting for the next few games will be harder for us fans than for the team, but hopefully we will all have something to celebrate on 2 May. UTCIAD!

Well done to Jake McCarthy who has signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract with the club. there are also new one-year deals for six other players in the Development Squad - goalkeeper Patrick O’Flahertry, full-back Callum Buckley, and midfielders Josh Carmichael, Josh Wakefield, Mason Walsh and Ben Whitfield. Congratulations to them all.

However, Kaye and Aristide Bassele are set to be released.
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