Cherries fail to score against Toon and crash into bottom three

Match Report

7 November 2015

AFCB 0 v 1 Newcastle Utd

Attendance: 11,155

AFCB and Newcastle Utd walk on to the pitch.

The Cherries' bus got stuck in the mud on eight points as they broke down at home, not knowing how to reach their destination of a second home win. Having dropped Glenn Murray, and with a clutch of players trying to grab the scoring wheel, AFCB ran their visitors hard but only seemed to steer the majority of their shots wide. Eddie Howe was full of praise for his players for most of their efforts in the first 70 minutes of this game, but the need for a goalscorer in the team was never made more evident than in this match which saw the Cherries lay siege to the Newcastle goal, but ultimately run out of ideas on how to beat Rob Elliot. He admirably defended Newcastle's lead that was scored by Perez in the 27th minute, when AFCB's defence seat on deck chairs and forgot to clear a bobbling ball that Perez duly prodded underneath Adam Federici. It was an undeserved lead and a one-sided contest, but the Cherries now look a side that has a real problem in front of goal and has a habit of leaking goals themselves.

Dave and Zak talk Newcastle Utd on Cherry Chimes FanCam.

Newcastle in their change strip.

Lee Mason in the middle with the captains.

Newcastle players get ready.

More pictures are on MatchDay Gallery.

There were a couple of changes to the AFCB team with Marc Pugh being injured with a soar achilles tendon problem and Glenn Murray dropped from the 18-man squad. Artur Boruc made it to the bench and there were starts for Josh King up front and Junior Stanislas in a five-man midfield. Steve Cook also made it back to the bench.

This was a game that the Cherries dare not lose and they came out early on firing well with Josh King going close in the first five minutes having raced up the right and powered his shot at the left side of the Newcastle goal, where Rob Elliot turned it round the corner. Charlie Daniels then had a dig from distance that just ran wide of the left post! Junior Stanislas was keeping moves going and he forced another corner on six minutes.

Harry Arter also looked for space in which to shoot and Ritchie and Gosling found their efforts blocked by some stout Newcastle defending. Surely the Cherries would get a break with this kind of pressure mounting up.

However, when Distin missed a pass from Daniels and Mitrovic in a race to get to the ball it was lucky that the Newcastle attacker did not beat Federici to the ball. A slip at the other end by Mbemba almost let King in similarly, but Elliot was out sharply. King was making his presence felt and there were calls for a penalty when Coloccini took him down in the box, but referee Lee Mason felt it was too soft. Newcastle too wondered if a ball that hit Gosling might be worth a penalty shout in the Bournemouth box but play went on.

AFCB's best chance of the first half came when Josh King was played in by Gosling on the left and the striker just had Elliot to beat. He took one touch, to create more space, and then a second and before you knew it the angle had narrowed and he hit his shot right at the keeper! An opportunity gone on 21 minutes.

Meanwhile, Francis was bombing forward sometimes perhaps forgetting that he was playing centre back but it was good to see. Newcastle were not making much of a game of it, but a flick from Mitrovic outside the box seemed to cause havoc in the centre of AFCB's defence on 27 minutes. The ball just wasn't cleared, but fell nicely to Perez who seemed to have a clear path through to goal. He stabbed his shot passed Federici who got an arm to it, but the ball dribbled into the back of the net from Newcastle's only attack. It was 0-1 and we knew it even if the scoreboard didn't show it.

Harry Arter got on the ball now and blasted a shot wide in retaliation. The corners kept coming with the Cherries looking to get back on equal terms. A free kick from the right saw Josh King get a glancing header to it that Elliot clung on to. Adam Smith then blasted a shot just over the bar with another shot from a poor corner clearance.

More corners saw Gosling leap highest and head down only for Elliot to save down low right by the post. King then put another header over from another corner. It was getting frustrating!

Janmatt was yellow carded for a foul on King, but Newcastle held the lead at half time 0-1.

Half time scoreboard.

Second Half
The second 45 started with a fabulous Bournemouth move. It was started by Sylvain Distin who played the ball towards Matt Ritchie who did a step over, allowing the ball to run to Adam Smith. Smith then cruised to the byline on the right and put in a deep cross that Ritchie headed but right at Elliot, who pushed it over the bar! Next it was the turn of Gosling who got on the end of a Ritchie cross but headed over.

A real scramble in the Newcastle box saw an Arter shot blocked and the keeper failing to get the ball safe, but no AFCB player could poke the ball home. A more glaring opportunity fell to Junior Stanislas after Ritchie crossed a ball from the right and Gosling missed it, before it landed at Junior's feet. He leaned back and ballooned his shot over and stood in disbelief for a few moments afterwards. Oh no!

AFCB were still in command and getting the opportunities but there did not seem to be a goalscorer on the pitch for them. Elliot was punching corners away now and getting fairly used to them.

On 63 minutes Cisse replaced Mirtovic. The game was disappearing and it was not shaping up well for the Cherries. Arter's annoyance ended up with a yellow card for a clear shirt pull on the half way line. Eddie Howe finally made some changes with Tomlin and Kermorgant replacing Stanislas and King. McClaren took off Perez and brought on Thauvin. Perez was roundly booed by the AFCB fans for his early injury claim when he had wasted time with a physio running on but finding he had no work to do. There were a few more cheers when Rantie came on for Harry Arter.

The last 10 minutes only prolonged the suffering. Adam Smith went into the book and Tiote followed him into the book, but even with six minutes of extra time the Cherries could not fashion a clear chance. The last minutes were even prolonged further with a Newcastle sub as Anita was replaced by Mbabu. FT 0-1.

Sometimes you don't get what you deserve.

A great day for Newcastle fans.

Federici on his way off the pitch.

Summary
It is never a good time to be in the bottom three and yet on performances it is hard not to agree that the Cherries probably are a bottom three side at the moment. Endeavour is all well and good but there has to be a finish. There was no quality in front of goal for them in this match and AFCB need to find some way of punishing teams for all their possession. Without that they can expect to spend a lot of time in the bottom three. Sadly, there aren't many options for Howe in his team selection and that is becoming abundantly clear.

AFCB
Federici, Smith, Francis, Diston, Daniels, Ritchie, Arter (Rantie 79), Gosling, Surman, Stanislas (Tomlin 73), King (Kermorgant 73)

AFCB Subs
Boruc, Bennett, Cook, MacDonald, Tomlin, Kermorgant, Rantie

AFCB Ratings
Federici 6, Smith 6, Francis 6, Distin 7, Daniels 7, Ritchie 8, Arter 6, Gosling 7, Surman 6, Stanislas 7, King 6

Newcastle Utd
Elliot, Janmaat, Mbemba, Coloccini, Dummett, Sissoko, Tioté, Anita (Mbabu 93),
Wijnaldum, Mitrovic (Cissé 63) Pérez (Thauvin 77)

Newcastle Subs
Cissé, de Jong, Gouffran, Lascelles, Thauvin. Woodman. Mbabu

Referee watch: Lee Mason - let's just say we have history 2/10. Didn't expect him to give AFCB any decisions and they didn't get any.