AFCB 2 v 0 Sunderland
19 September 2015
Attendance: 11,271
With two sides near the foot of the table looking for a win to kick start their season there was a lot riding on where the three points would go for this match. AFCB had not won at home and had not been fast starters at the Vitality Stadium in the past, but Sunderland were blitzed by two goals in the first nine minutes which sent them to the bottom of the Premier League. Callum Wilson was first to break their defence in the fourth minute, latching onto a through ball from Dan Gosling to beat Pantilion down low to his left. The second Cherries goal was a stunning strike from Matt Ritchie just five minutes later. Ritchie broke the net having cushioned the ball on his chest and then volleyed home his shot, from 25 yards out, into the top right corner of Sunderland's goal. It was a double blow that the Black Cats never recovered from. While Jermain Defoe had a one on one effort saved by Artur Boruc towards the end of the first half, Boruc did not have a busy match. The closest Sunderland came to a goal was a disallowed header by Lens in the second half but with Younes Kaboul seeing red for his second yellow card offence, this was AFCB's day and their play well deserved the three points on offer.
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| Both teams really needed a win. |
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| Five changes are made to the Cherries. There's no Tommy Elphick, but Sylvain Distin was terrific. |
Sunderland fan Stuart Newton gives his thoughts pr-match
(sound is not that clear).
(sound is not that clear).
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| Sunderland patiently await the kick off. |
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| AFCB players showed no signs of pressure after last week's match. |
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| Simon Francis leads AFCB. |
Andy Mathews and owen Mathews give their
AFC Bournemouth views pre-match.
(must not stand next to programme seller in future!)
AFC Bournemouth views pre-match.
(must not stand next to programme seller in future!)
There was determination in the Cherries' ranks having suffered their heaviest defeat of the season in the last game. This was the bounce back and it started quickly. Fabio Borini had already saved Sunderland's blushes in the first couple of minutes by clearing just before Dan Gosling was lining up his shot from the edge of the box. But just a minute later Gosling put a ball through to Wilson's left and the forward turned and held off Kaboul and as he entered the box he raced in to finish low past Costel Pantilimon to opening the scoring.
Immediately from the kick off Callum Wilson chased down Jordi Gomez and Younes Kaboul. The Cherries were on their game. The left wing was a constant strength for the team as Daniels and Pugh weaved their way into the last third of the pitch. A corner then led to the second goal as a clearance from Yann M'Vila fell to Matt Ritchie on the edge of the box who took the ball down neatly in one touch before dispatching it, with amazing accuracy from his left boot, right into the top right corner - outstanding! AFCB were 2-0 up and Sunderland looked like they were in a very bad place.
Sunderland's Jordi Gomez did think smartly to drive his free kick from a yard inside the corner flag on to the post with Boruc just about covering the shot had it been hit any better. As the half progressed the yellow card count went a bit frenetic with with Seb Coates bringing down Wilson and annoying referee Kevin Friend as early on as 15 minutes. Billy Jones followed him into the book eight minutes later. More were to follow.
AFCB continued to move the ball well and on 27 minutes Tomlin and Pugh looked to have created a great chance when Gosling's pass to Wilson just fell short. Lee Tomlin was working hard and was seeing a lot of his neat touches come off, although he was not having much luck in seeing his shots getting blocked. Pugh was also a menace to Sunderland but when an inviting free header chance fell to him in the box he could only head over. Meanwhile, Pantilimon was having a kicking nightmare!
Sunderland had chances from good positions, but they could not test Artur Boruc. A free kick on the edge of the area saw Surman running to join the wall and then leave a gap only to go back in again. It didn't matter it was Callum Wilson who felt the fall force of the blast as M'Vila smashed the ball into him rather than hitting the top corner!
On 39 minutes Defoe had a big chance that he fired at Boruc's legs when through on goal. If that was not bad enough for Sunderland's No18 he saw his header fly wide from six yards three minutes later although the move was offside anyway. Kaboul then saw yellow for pulling back Callum Wilson - it was to be an important foul as Kaboul would see yellow again and ultimately red.
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| Half time score - Cherries in control. |
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| The players walk off. |
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| Sunderland players looked well out of sorts. |
Dick Advocaat made one change at half time with Jack Rodwell on for Jordi Gomez. Free kicks characterised much of the play early on. Up to this point Sunderland van Aanholf, had probably been their best player but neither he nor Jones the other full back were finding it easy.
Rodwell brought a bit more urgency and won a corner having had a shot blocked. From the corner Jeramain Lens then thought he had scored with a header but the assistant referee ruled it out for offside.
From then on it seemed that Sunderland were chained to their fate of a 2-0 defeat. While Borini tried a volley that went skyward the Black Cats could not get past Sylvain Distin all afternoon. Borini also got a booking.
Lee Tomlin was subbed on 64 minutes for Eunan O'Kane as AFCB shut up shop. This was followed by Jermain Defoe received a big round of applause as he left the pitch for Sunderland's Steve Fletcher.
Marc Pugh was still looking for another goal and saw his shot deflected for a corner. Meanwhile, Adam Johnson came on for Fabio Borini on 72 minutes. AFCB were still having chances with a Ritchie free kick flying high and wide.
Sunderland's task got a lot harder though when Kabul fouled Wilson one time too many and was given a second yellow along with his marching orders on 75 minutes. That allowed Wilson to be subbed for Glenn Murray to make his home debut.
The yellow cards kept coming with Dan Gosling and Ola Toivonen kept the note pad full of names. AFCB almost made it 3-0 when Eunan O'Kane and Ritchie worked some space for Pugh to hammer his shot down into the ground and then off the bar with Ritchie's follow up saved superbly by Pantilimon on 86 minutes.
The Cherries made their last sub on 89 minutes with Adam Smith on for Andrew Surman. With four minutes of extra time there was just time for Glenn Murray to force another good save out of Pantilimon. The day ended on another yellow card though as Murray was pulled up for a foul on M'Vila.
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| The final score. |
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| A comfortable win for the Cherries. |
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| It looks like a long season for Sunderland supporters. |
A clean sheet, two early goals and a solid display by the Cherries. It was a match that AFCB needed and came just at the right time for them with Sylvain Distin my man of the match for his cool head and no nonsense defending. I lost count of the amount of headed clearances he made during the game and all of them had great distance on them. With Wilson now the Premier league's leading goal scorer, along with Leicester's Mahrez, and Matt Ritchie scoring another cracker, Dean Court is a much happier place than it was last week and now the onus will be on the players to build on this solid victory in the weeks to come.
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| Eddie gets his first home win of the season. |
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| Eddie is delighted with his players. |
AFCB ratings: Boruc 8, Francis 7, Cook 7, Distin 9, Daniels 8, Ritchie 8, Surman 7, Gosling 8, Pugh 8, Tomlin 7, Wilson 8
Black Cat Subs: Cattermole, Larsson, Rodwell, Johnson, Yedlin, Mannone, Fletcher
Ref Watch: Kevin Friend - not sure he knows how to play the advantage. A card happy 5/10
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