Another extract from my new AFCB book, The Disrupted Season (2019-20) looks at the home win against Manchester United in November last year. Bournemouth had just had three games in which they had failed to score in October and Manchester United were looking to climb up the table after a poor start for them. It was a memorable game for me, not just because Bournemouth won, but I was rather busy on the morning of the game.
"Nothing seemed that glamourous about the Premier League when it was pouring down with rain at Dean Court and blowing a gale for the visit of Manchester United. The build-up to the game had been a bit strange for me as well, as it was an early 12:30 kick-off and I had lots on my mind.
I had been busy driving down from Redhill to see Paul Orchard at In off the Far Post. He had ordered some copies of Eddie Had A Dream, my first book, to sell in his shop in Pokesdown. I had managed to get down for 10 am and waited in the shelter of Paul’s shop and took the opportunity to see England take on South Africa in the Rugby Union World Cup Final. It didn’t go well for Eddie Jones’ team, and I hoped that our Eddie would be more successful and perhaps get a draw in the afternoon.
- it's available now for £11.49 as a paperback - visit Amazon to order
But I felt more confident that the day could improve when I met up with Sam Davis, of the Back of the Net podcast, in the 1910 Bar. We had a quick conversation about Eddie Had A Dream, which we had an interview about the week before, on Sam’s podcast, and agreed to meet up at half-time to do another quick interview that would go out later in the week. This one would update listeners on the progress of the book’s sales.
Having exited the 1910 Bar, I spotting a past favourite walking into the stadium. It was Sylvain Distin. He was casually striding up to the stadium with nobody else approaching him. So, I stepped right up and asked him to sign a copy of the Eddie Had A Dream book, which he kindly did. I was over the moon, as Sylvain was only at the club for the first Premier League season for AFC Bournemouth, and I hadn’t managed to get his signature before.
Armed with my signed copy, I felt that perhaps the luck was changing, even if the rain hadn’t stopped. The match went pretty quickly in the first half. United should have scored early on, when their young Welsh attacker, Daniel James, crossed from the right straight into Andreas Pereira’s stride. Pereira had the goal at his mercy, near the penalty spot, but the striker completely missed the ball and the danger passed.
The biggest turning point of the half perhaps came, not when Ryan Fraser went over in the box and VAR was called into play, but rather when Martial went down with Lerma in close attendance in Bournemouth’s box. All hell let loose with accusations of diving and Fred getting more than a bit involved, pushing Lerma, who needed Aaron Ramsdale to help shepherd the Colombian away from the incident. It was too late for Lerma, who was booked and would be suspended for the next game. At least he didn’t do anything more serious in retaliation.
Once rattled though, Bournemouth upped their game. The defining moment of the match came right on half-time. I was speaking into my voice recorder on my phone at the time, summing up the first half, when Adam Smith put in a high ball that Josh King chested down. Josh King allowed the ball to bounce before accepting the challenge from Aaron Wan-Bissaka and swivelled to his left to fire an unstoppable shot down and past David de Gea in goal. Like most Bournemouth fans, I didn’t wait to hear a VAR check. I was pumping the air and shouting, ‘King has scored! Josh has scored!’ Bournemouth now had United just where they wanted them.
I duly did my half-time interview with Back of the Net and admitted that I’d got the score wrong – it wouldn’t be a 0-0 result. But I hung on to the hope that the Cherries would keep their clean sheet and end the game 1-0, which is exactly what happened.
I summed up the match on the blog, feeling rather jubilant. ‘In the end, the 1-0 win is pleasing in that Bournemouth took their best chance and kept United at bay for another clean sheet. Eddie Howe won't have much to grumble at after that performance, and the home crowd got fully behind the team which made it a great game to be at."
If you haven't yet bought a copy of Eddie Had A Dream yet, it is still available on Amazon for £9.99 in paperback and £7.99 as an ebook download.
The Disrupted Season (2019-2020), from where this Manchester United game extract is taken, is also available for £11.49 as a paperback and £9.99 as an ebook download. If you are looking for birthday or Christmas presents for AFCB fans you can get them nice and early and the paperbacks only take a few days to arrive in the post with 15 per cent being donated to Julia's House Children's Charity.
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