Sunderland - a missed opportunity for the Cherries?

The only pity about the match against Sunderland was that the Cherries could not punch home their early dominance and, of course, the injury to Junior Stanislas. That the team did not get three points was not unlucky as they did not create enough to take the game away from the Black Cats. 

AFCB still have plenty of big games to come.

Before the match, Steve Cook mentioned that a positive result could have seen a nine point gap open up between the teams and that was surely the message sent out to the players before they ventured out on to the pitch. While a win would have been a massive three points it was much more damaging to Sunderland that they did not make any ground on the Cherries in a home match. AFCB basically have a six point start in the remaining games on Sunderland and maintaining that margin of a lead is very significant.

Sunderland will have thought that they could get a win in front of their own fans and the way their team started will have been very disappointing for Sunderland fans to have witnessed. Their biggest encouragement is that they managed to get something out of a game where they looked like they may get battered after the early stages of the match. How many of their fans will have been happy coming away with a point from that game though?

So while there were more points on offer, AFCB need not well too long on the Sunderland draw. It's a point that is bagged and we move on to the next one knowing that the gap has been maintained and there is one less game to be caught. Beating the bottom teams has not come easy for AFCB and while the team still awaits it first double over a Premier League team, it is the remaining games against Newcastle, Swansea, WBA and Aston Villa that appear the most critical now - oh and I forgot Chelsea too!