Will AFCB try and make more of Yann's heading ability?

Yann is the man for AFCB.

Last season we saw how good Yann Kermorgant was in the air. He basically dismantled Doncaster at home in the 5-0 win with his powerful finishing. When I look at Kermorgant though I don't see a player who instantly would be expected to score lots from headers but his determination to out jump opponents seems to take defenders by surprise and I think some of that comes down to his positional play and the timing of his runs.

There has been a distinct lack of headed goals in recent seasons at Dean Court and now that the team has a known strong header of the ball we might see the tactic used a bit more. I still expect Bournemouth to play with the flowing passing game but if anything more crosses may be supplied to the Frenchman if he is seen as the main strike force in the team.

Certainly Kermorgant has the ability to score 10 or more headed goals a season with the right delivery and over the summer the players will have a lot of time to work on how best to find him in the box when he shows how he likes to pull off the defenders to find space and make goal scoring opportunities. The pleasing aspect of Kermorgant's play though is that he is more than a striker who simply scores with his head. He has shown that he is an instinctive striker and also an unselfish one on many occasions. It maybe that we see an even more hungry Yann Kermorgant come August when he looks to show that he is the main man up front now.  Already in the Dorchester match he has demonstrated how eager he is to get on the goal scorers list and I expect a few more hat-tricks from Yann in the games to come.  

Yann - so calm in front of goal.

Eddie Howe has said that Ryan Fraser came off with a slight injury in the Dorchester game while Tommy Elphick and Tokelo Rantie were rested, the later because of a groin strain. 

Just to remind us all that Yann can also hit a free kick, thanks to Steve Wright's clip you can watch Yann's free kick against Dorchester Town. You even get Steve's knee as a bonus!

Cherries put 11 past Dorchester in friendly

AFCB turned out at Dorchester with a strong first team in the first half and sadly for Dorchester they were in the mood to rack up the goals. With Francis captaining the side Cargill also started in defence and new signing Gosling also took to the field. It was Harry Arter though that was not messing about when his drive just 76 seconds in found it's way to the back of Dorchester's net to give the Cherries an early lead. He came close too a few minutes later when he hit the post, but was Yann Kermorgant who doubled the lead on 13 minutes.

The Cherries had their shooting boots on today and within another minute Matt Ritchie had nipped in to make it 0-3. That wasn't the end of the first half scoring though as Dan Gosling came within a whisker of his first goal, but Ritchie added his second on the rebound. It didn't end there either as Kermrogant go his second from the penalty spot to make it 0-5 and it was 0-6 on the half hour, Kermorgant again.

Even with Fraser and MaCDonald coming off AFCB still had the likes of Pitman and Sam Matthews to replace them. Sure enough Pitman did not make much time in adding to the score to make it 0-7. There was a bit of calm then in the scoring before Pitman made it 0-8 on 43 minutes. It was explosive stuff from the Cherries and Dorchester had no answer to it.

At this point I started to look up AFCB's biggest ever win.11-0 against Margate in an FA Cup tie in 1971 I though, but I was corrected by Keith Morey that AFCB beat MK Dons 13-0 in a friendly under Paul Groves.

Jack McCarthy replaced Adam Smith for the second half and we were off again. Kermorgant adding to his overall total with a free-kick to make it 0-9. A whole host of changes were then made on the hour by Eddie Howe to bring some fresh legs on including Junior Stanislas and Callum Wilson. Callum Wilson announced his arrival with his first goal for the Cherries on 65 minutes. The score ended at 11 in the end when Ben Whitfield finished the Cherries scoring.

Simon Francis captained the side against Dorchester Town.

Here are the official tweets from AFCB on the match:

#afcb XI to play @DorchTownFC: Buchel, Smith, Francis, Cargill, Harte, Ritchie, Gosling, MacDonald, Arter, Fraser, Kermorgant.

Simon Francis will captain #afcb in the first half.

01: @DorchTownFC get the game under way at The Avenue. #afcb

02: GOAL! @HarryArter2 opens the scoring after 76 seconds with a fierce drive. #afcb

08: @HarryArter2 hits the post! The midfielder strikes the woodwork after being picked out by @RyanFraser94. 0-1. #afcb

09: Matt Ritchie puts the ball in the net, but he's flagged offside. 0-1. #afcb

13: Yann Kermorgant makes it 2-0. Classy finish from the lone striker from 20 yards out. #afcb

14: GOAL! Matt Ritchie converts from @ianharte23's cross to add a third for #afcb. 0-3.

20: GOAL! Dan Gosling has a shot cleared off the line, but Matt Ritchie puts away the rebound. 0-4. #afcb

28: GOAL! Yann Kermorgant scores his second & #afcb's fifth from the penalty spot. 0-5.

28: @RyanFraser94 & @ShaunMac20 are replaced by Brett Pitman & Sam Matthews. 0-5. #afcb

30: It's a hat-trick for Yann Kermorgant inside half an hour! 0-6. #afcb

35: GOAL! Brett Pitman is on hand to tap in @AdamSmith912's low cross. 0-7. #afcb

43: GOAL! Brett Pitman keeps his cool to slot home from just inside the box. 0-8. #afcb

Half-time: @DorchTownFC 0-8 Cherries. #afcb in complete control during the first half at The Avenue.

Just one change at half-time for #afcb, with @JakeMcC_17 replacing @AdamSmith912.

48: GOAL! Yann Kermorgant curls in a free-kick at the start of the second half. 0-9. #afcb

57: @ianharte23 hits the post with a free-kick! 0-9. #afcb

A number of changes about to be made by Eddie Howe, including the introduction of Callum Wilson & Junior Stanislas. #afcb

#afcb XI to play final 30 mins: Buchel, Francis, McCarthy, Cook, Daniels, Stanislas, O'Kane, McQuoid, Pugh, Wilson, Pitman.

65: GOAL! Callum Wilson helps #afcb into double figures with his first goal in red & black. 0-10.

68: Simon Francis is replaced by @b_cargill, who started the first half. @JakeMcC_17 will play at full-back. #afcb

71: @ben_whitfield96 & Patrick O'Flaherty come on for @b_cargill & @BeniBuechel. #afcb
75: Former #afcb youth team goalkeeper Shane Murphy has made good saves to deny Brett Pitman, Josh McQuoid & @ben_whitfield96.

88: GOAL! Development squad midfielder @ben_whitfield96 scores from close range in the closing stages. 0-11. #afcb

Full-time: @DorchTownFC 0-11 Cherries. #afcb

Dorchester Town ready to stand in AFCB's way

There's a chance to see the Cherries' first team play today in pre-season as they take on Dorchester Town at 3pm at the Avenue stadium. The Magpies currently play in the Skrill Southern Premier League along with Poole Town. Many of AFC Bournemouth's players have been loaned out to the Magpies in recent seasons to learn their craft. Last January AFCB loaned out Charlie Lossaso and Jake McCarrthy and Benjamin Buchel had a spell there in February last season.

I can't say I have ever been a big follower of Dorchester Town even though I spent many early years living just 15 miles away at Bridport. Still they have a reasonable following in the hundreds and should turn out in their numbers for the AFCB game. Incidentally, Bridport are next up after the Cherries for Dorchester. So far this pre-season Dorchester have lost 3-0 at home to a Torquay XI and have draw 1-1 with Gosport.

Ben Joyce is their star man up front and he only signed for them from Weymouth last season and was at Swindon Town before that but he has had his injury troubles. Those of you familiar with Poole Town will also know that striker Dan Cann signed for Dorchester last May. Alex Godfrey was on the score sheet against Gosport and has been noted as one of their best players. If you are looking for leaders on the pitch though look out for Jamie Gleeson - he is the David Beckham look alike apparently (he also started out at that club called the Saints!), but I hope he does not play that well. Dorchester knocked out Plymouth in the FA Cup in 2012 so they won't be worried about AFCB coming down to their ground.

You should also take a look at the Dorchester Town Facebook page with loads of good stories and pictures of the ground and players. It also seems that they like their ale down there!

For AFCB we await team news but it is possible that Buchel will resume his keeper duties unless Flahavan and Camp are ready to take part, while injuries could keep out new signings Stanislas and Wilson.

A busy July schedule for Cherries

The Cherries pre-season really gets up a head of steam in the next few days. They have a five-day training at Bad Waltersdorf in Austria, which they fly out to on 8 July, and will face FC Copenhagen on 11 July at the Vulkanlandarena in Austria. Matches against Salisbury Town (or Eastleigh FC I am hearing today), Dorchester, Southampton and Portsmouth follow and there are games against Swansea and Oxford in the first two days of August. The Development squad will also have a full fixture list as they prepare for their season in their mini league.

AFCB players at the Valley last season. I think AFCB's new
pitch will turn out a lot better than this, but even Dean Court
has had drainage problems so a higher profile will be given to the pitch. 

During July the players will be clocking up the miles and have plenty of minutes on the pitch to get ready for their first league match against Huddersfield Town. It will be good when all the talking and training is over and the players can just go out and do their thing. But I find this period very exciting as you know that the team is working hard and will be in public view again very soon. What I don't like is the thought of injuries and strains but it's all part of the game and it is very rare for any squad to have everyone available for their first game.

I am desperate to know how the team will line up for that initial game and we will have to analyse what Eddie Howe does in the next few weeks in these pre-season friendlies with his line ups. While the goal keeper and first choice back four almost pick themselves there will be a decision to make at centre back as to who to leave out and the options for the top half of the team will see more intense competition this coming season.

I see the Southampton, Portsmouth and Swansea games as the key matches for the Cherries in the upcoming period of games. They will be tough games and the two derby games will perhaps have a bit of bite to them whereas the Swansea match should be a littered with great passing moves. We are getting nearer to kick-off. UTCIAD!

Does it matter who the Cherries play in pre-season friendlies?

There has been plenty of early talk flying around about just who the Cherries will be lining up against in the summer months before the start of their next Championship campaign. Speculation has at least been heightened after last year's game against Real Madrid and while it might be hard to generate the same kind of surprise excitement there is no doubt that the pulling power of Maxim Demin's Bournemouth side, or perhaps Maxim's purse strings is likely to make it another memorable pre-season.

Any one got any objections to Real Madrid turning up again?

Ozil and Renaldo at the Goldsands stadium last summer.

Already I hear confirmation of Glasgow Rangers - 30 July, and also on the cards is talk of Everton, Portsmouth, FC Copenhagen. Perhaps they will provide the kind of games that will give AFCB players a good competitive work out. But last year, if we put the 0-6 Real Madrid friendly to one side, the other difficult  pre-season games were against teams like Woking and Salisbury, so perhaps the prospect of matches we hear against Dorchester and Yeovil will be tougher games than the likes of Rangers, oh and don't forget the traditional match against Poole Town. Much of these matches are just about fitness and trying players in positions where they may need some extra tuition, but as fans I suppose we all want to see some big named teams with star players if at all possible.

So while Eddie Howe and his team juggle with what the players need there are club considerations for having a few big gates with eminent teams. Personally, I do not mind that much who the Cherries play as I will be more concerned with how the Cherries are shaping up themselves ahead of the new season. That will be made even more exciting if the club can sign a couple of new players early on in the summer months, so that we can see how Eddie will be building on last season's success. I don't know about you, but unlike Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, I'd quite like to see Lewis Grabban running out in an AFCB shirt quite a few more times.

Narrow win for AFCB over Dorchester as Chiedozie does it again

Dorchester 0 v 1 AFCB

24 July 2013

Attendance 505

AFCB went to Dorchester with a fairly young team and they certainly had their work cut out against a Magpies' side who would love to score a major upset. It was great to see that Ryan Allsop was able to play in goal and Eunan O'Kane was back in midfield, to give the Cherries some quality and drive. Donal McDermott and Jayden Stockley had another chance to do more in front of Eddie Howe and youngsters Harry Cornick and Josh Wakefield were also selected.

Just like last week there was also an old favourite who turned up in AFCB colours. It wasn't Mark Molesley this time, but Warren Cummings who recently left AFC Wimbledon and was another player between clubs trying to get some match fitness. It is good to see the club help old some of the old favourites - careers are so short these days.

According to the Echo the trialists starting for Bournemouth included Immanuel Parry from Stoke and Elloitt Legg from Hayes & Yeading.

Here are the main official tweets from AFCB on the action.

The game started with Dorchester seeming to be doing most of the pressing. After 6 minutes Walker gets the first shot of the game away but his low drive from the edge of the area proved to be an easy catch for Allsop. Again, Dorchester came forward on 15 minutes as Clough headed towards Allsop's goal but it went wide. A minute later Watson sent a low shot in towards the AFCB goal and while Allsop dived it trickled just wide.

Beasley then tried his luck from the edge of the area but his shot was caught by Allsop. Still no clear-cut chances, but it seemed that Dorchester were finding their feet quicker than AFCB from all the one-way tweets.

Clough rose well on 34 minutes to meet a teasing cross into the AFCB area but his header skimmed the crossbar and went over. Close one!

Then it was a shock to hear that AFCB had actually had a shot on goal on 37 minutes. Bassele shot from close range, but under pressure, and blasted it over. Still Dorchester 0-0. The dealock was nearly broken, two minutes later, when Harry Cornick was put through one-on-one but his low shot went wide. That was half time - 0:0.

I bet Chiedozie was desperate to get on with no goals being scored so far.

My suspiscions of a lacklustre AFCB performance were confirmed during the break when AFCB tweeted: "The Cherries have failed to find any real rhythm here. The hosts have had the better chances, but Allsop is yet to really be tested."

The Cherries made two substitutions at half time with Chiedozie and Goodship replacing Cornick and Stockley. It only took until the 47th minute before my growing pre-season goal hero did it again. Jordan Chiedozie put the Cherries 0:1 up!

Jordan Chiedozie was back in goal scoring mood for AFCB.

The game was by no means secure though and on 57 minutes Smeeton reminded AFCB of that as he had Dorchester's best chance. He sent in a stinging shot from the edge of the area, but it was well saved by Allsop. On 59 minutes Cummings and McCarthy replaced Kamau and O'Kane. It is great to see that Warren wants to extend his career, I still miss his cheeky grin. 

It was not such good news that I didn't hear one comment about O'Kane during the match, but I am hoping he was the one doing some of the work when Cornick was through in the first half and perhaps when Chiedozie scored. At least he played for an hour - much needed time.

The excitement level was raised a bit higher when on 67 minutes Dorchester came close to levelling it through former AFCB youth player Lewy Blackmore, but the chance was cleared. We then had a sub as Jones replaced McDermott after 74 minutes. Donal could be in demand if Pugh and Ritchie are struggling to make the Charlton game, so I'm pleased he is one who has had a lot of match play in the last few weeks. 

AFCB made another substitution as Kirkwood replaced Legg on 79 minutes. Chances have been at a premium here in this second half, but it so nearly could have been a draw as in the 90th minute Wilson was put through one-on-one. However, Allsop made himself big and Wilson couldn't round the 21-year-old keeper. Not a bad return to the team Ryan.

There was no more recorded action and AFCB ran out 0:1 winners thanks to Jordan Chiedozie's goal. Jordan, you have increased your lead in the Cherry Chimes pre-season goal scorers table! He'll take some catching now.

Cherries starting XI: 

Allsop, Legg, Kamau, Parry, Cargill, Wakefield, McDermott, O'Kane, Stockley, Bassele, Cornick.

Cherries subs: Collins, Chiedozie, Goodship, Jones, Kirkwood, McCarthy, Cummings.

AFCB Trialists: Elliott Legg (Hayes & Yeading), Michael Kamau (Fulham, Brentford) and Immanuel Parry (Stoke).

Dorchester test next for Cherries

After the difficult games that the Cherries have had in recent days you might think that tonight's pre-season friendly against a local Dorchester Town team should be an easy match for AFCB. Well, shall I take you back to the FA Cup last year when Dorchester played Plymouth Argyle? Oh yes, Dorchester can play some football and had little difficult in upsetting the odds last November, when Jake Gosling's second half strike knocked the green army out of the cup. 

In recent fixtures, Dorchester has also played Poole Town who of course AFCB came up against only a few days ago. The score in the Poole Town game on 20 July ended in a 0:2 victory for the Magpies as Dorchester FC are called locally. The two goal scorers were Watson and Peprah-Annan with both goals coming in the second half. You can read more about the Dorchester team that day at the Dorset Echo. The report does say that the two trialists who did not play on that day for Dorchester, Danny Way and Andy Masson, will be selected to play against the Cherries.

With the Cherries having just played Pompey last night one would expect it to be quite a different team to take on the Magpies. Still, Marc Pugh might want to keep his fitness up having missed out a bit on pre-season games and some of the trialists are likely to get more chances to impress tonight. So we may see a team consisting of Butterfield, Losasso and Goodship. Chiedozie will also be keen to keep up his minutes on the pitch as AFCB's leading goal scorer in pre-season. The Cherries also look set to reintroduce Ryan Allsop and Eunan O'Kane having missed most of pre-season. Donal McDermott and Jayden Stockley are also expected to play, according to the Echo.

For those of you making the journey along the coast to the Avenue Stadium have a safe trip and enjoy the game.