Bournemouth now know they can now hurt the top sides

I can see why Eddie Howe was frustrated with his team after the first half against Nottingham Forest as the Cherries could have taken a victory if they had shown more clinical finishing. But the same could be said for Forest. While Eddie felt that AFCB did not play well in the first half you have to give credit for the way Forest played and spread the ball wide. They created loads of goal scoring opportunities, but I was pleased with the shape AFCB had and the way they defended as a whole.

Rantie was impressive at Nottingham Forest.

This was not the rout that Forest expected having seen the Cherries ravished earlier in the season by Watford and Huddersfield. Billy Davies wanted his team to bag a hat full of goals against the Cherries, but Bournemouth have been working on their defensive play and it showed. Darius Henderson was caught offside so many times it was untrue. Luckily on the couple of occasions when Forest did break through the trap they made a mess of it. Eddie Howe will want to do more work to ensure that we don't give Leicester such chances, but Cook and Ward have a good understanding now.

The fact that the team went to a place like the City ground and kept going at Forest underlines that they do now believe they can get something from such games. AFCB were not so fortunate at Leeds, but they weren't going to give up trying at Forest and they got their reward. This could be another watershed moment. They know now that they can hurt teams away from home and we still are not playing our strongest side.

Grabban is fast becoming one of AFCB's best assets.

There's another big test for AFCB next week at Leicester and their attackers may not be as generous as Forest's were. Meanwhile, I would like AFCB to work on their finishing some more because on another day I can see us getting a two or three goal lead in a game soon like we had at Middlesbrough. I think this is what is frustrating Eddie at the moment. We don't always take our chances.

Still it was a marvellous result against in inform Nottingham Forest who had dismantled Brighton away in their last match. AFCB are starting to be made of sterner stuff away from home now and that big win against a top six side is something they know they can achieve. The Cherries support at the Forest game was again amazing and I have no doubt it is helping the team so I hope as many can make it to Leicester next Saturday.

You can listen to Cherry Chimes talk over the Nottingham Forest game with Michael Dunne on All Departments' Kangeroo Court. Visit the All Departments' website or listen on here by going to the right hand panel and scrolling down to Kangeroo Court - then click on the arrow to listen.

Billy Davies v Eddie Howe - head to head

I thought it might be of interest to see how Eddie Howe matches up to Billy Davies' record in the Championship, although Saturday will be the first time they have managed a team against each other. It is interesting that both managers have returned to their respective club having managed them before and they have both had a good run at being Championship managers.

Billy Davies is a little older at 49, compared to Eddie (35), and has managed at Preston North End and Derby County in the Championship as well as at Forest. You can soon see why Forest fans label him 'King Billy' as soon as you look at his managerial stats with Forest. In his first period at the club between 2008-11 he had a win ration of 42 per cent, with 53 wins from 126 games. Moreover, in 2009-10 he helped the team to an 18 game unbeaten run in the Championship.

From the start of his second period at Forest, in February 2013, he has won 15 of the 30 games he has been in charge of and only lost six. This season they have only lost once, away to Wigan. You can see more of Billy Davies' profile on Wikipedia.

Eddie Howe's Burnley record (Jan 2011- Oct 12) does not stand up quite so well, but it isn't that bad for a Championship manager with a 39 per cent win ratio and 34 wins from 87 games. During this season Eddie is up to a win ratio of 45 per cent from his 11 games in the Championship.

Both managers are very successful and while Billy Davies might have the edge on knowing his current team slightly longer, Eddie Howe has recorded a 5:1 win against Nottingham Forest in September 2011 (when Steve McClaren was manager of Forest) and a 0:2 win in January 2012 at the City ground (when Steve Coterill was the Forest manager).

So Eddie's record against Forest is one he would like to keep up, although it will be the first time I can see that Eddie will have taken on Billy Davies at Forest. Eddie had joined Bournemouth again in October 2012 before Burnley (under Sean Dyche) lost 2:0 to Forest last December.  

Has Eddie Howe got room for more awards?

Every body at Nottingham Forest seemed to be on Twitter this morning complaining that Eddie Howe had been named among the candidates for manager of the month for the Championship. I had to laugh, because their manager had not been selected as a possible winner despite Billy Davies having only lost one game this season against Wigan Athletic. 

When you see that Eddie Howe has seen his team thumped 6:1 and 5:1 as well as a 2:0 defeat in the cup, you may say oh! They have a point. But know one except SKYBet had a look at the disciplinary records of managers as well as performances. With Davies up on a charge for his comments to the referee after the Wigan game I suggest that he had blown his chance of picking up any managerial award for August.

The thing about Eddie Howe is that he has shown that he can bring his team back from a big set back. He has done it not once, but twice in the last month already. Is that not something that good managers can do? It's not just about winning every game or scoring a bucket load of goals against the opposition. Well such things obviously help, but man management and doing well in times of adversity are something that should be considered when giving out these gongs.

AFCB are sixth in the Championship and considering they are one of the promoted teams you can say that they excelled last month. Doncaster and Yeovil did not do as well in terms of points, even if they did not suffer the big defeats that were handed out to AFCB.

If Eddie doesn't pick up the award on Friday for August's Championship Manager of the month, we still know that he is the best and it is a real pleasure just to witness how good he is at his job. Much of the credit for the team's performance though will also be down to Jason Tindall, the physios, Neil Moss and other backroom staff. Eddie will be the first to say that. 

Eddie might not have much more room on left on the shelf for such trophies at his home, but we don't mind if he fills the trophy cabinet in the club shop at Dean Court. Good luck Eddie. 

The other candidates are Paul Ince of Blackpool, Harry Redknapp of QPR and Sean Dyche of Burnley.