Is shipping the odd goal a worry for AFCB?

Not much has been said about Matt Smith's goal for Fulham against AFCB. It's hardly surprising as the positives of the game far outweighed any negatives and yet the Cherries have been opened up by a couple of passes alongside their centre backs in the last two games and Eddie Howe may just start to question why that is.

AFCB defenders go through their warm up routine.

I felt that Fulham's goal was very well taken. It was a sharp move with Ross McCormack as usual at the centre of anything good that Fulham had to offer. The fact that he is such a goal threat probably caused our centre halves to concentrate on him for  just a bit too long from what I could see, before he slipped the ball through for Matt Smith and with his hard hit finish there was little Artur Boruc could do, even though he got pretty close to getting something on the shot.

While the defence will probably feel that the goal took a bit of the shine off the fabulous overall performance on the night, there are sometimes when players have to hold their hand up and say we were undone there. It is not something that should happen regularly though and Steve Cook and Tommy Elphick will no doubt be checking the tapes to see if they could have done anything different to stop Matt Smith getting his shot away.

Of course AFCB have been great going forward and have not had to worry too much about shipping the odd goal, but it could have generated something of a Fulham comeback. Being ruthless at both ends is what the teams wants to be and so a clean sheet against Blackpool would be a pleasing sign that the Cherries are starting to close up the few chances that they have been giving sides as a glimmer of hope.

Majestic Cherries crush Fulham 1-5

Match Report

Fulham 1 v 5 AFCB

6 March 2015

Attendance: 16,317 (including 1894 AFCB fans)

AFCB love going to big clubs.

Arriving at Craven Cottage just 10 minutes before kick off I had no idea of what I was about to witness. We have been singing for the previous couple of ours in the Eight Bells pub, near Putney Bridge, and had probably outstayed our welcome (more on that in a later post), but the party was already in full swing. So when we climbed top the back of the Putney end stand we sensed that something special could happen if we kept the AFCB Anthem's going. But how could we have foreseen the powerful and clinical finishing of the Cherries against a team that had given Derby and Watford such hard games only a few days before?

More pictures are now up on Match Day Gallery.

Great views of the Craven cottage ground.

As soon as Pitman scored on the half hour it was a case of how many would the Cherries get and Ritchie wasted no time in doubling the lead and at two up at half time we were sure there was more to come. Indeed there was, as Pitman raced through from half way to get a third and even while Fulham grabbed a consolation goal, there was time for Matt Ritchie to flash in a free kick and Steve Cook made it five with a cracking finish. Maybe Steve fancies the number 9 shirt - ah but Rantie did come on and I think we really would have been on the pitch if he had scored as well.  This was startling stuff - the Cherries unleashed - Fulham had no answer to it.

TV cameras watch every step of the players

Eddie Howe only made on change from the last game with Brett Pitman coming in for Yann Kermorgant. It proved to be a great selection as Pitman refound the form we had seen from him two seasons ago when he propelled the Cherries to promotion to the Championship. Brett was on fire.

I can't say that from the start AFCB were dominant, but the scrappy first half hour settled any nerves and got the Cherries concentrating on pushing forward to get the breakthrough. Cook and Daniels were making the clearances in the first five minutes with McCormack proving to be a threat. Marc Pugh was the first AFCB player to have a good sight of goal but his shot to the left side of Bettinelli was palmed over the bar on nine minutes. Bryan Ruiz was playing in the whole for Fulham and put in a cross that hit Arter for a Fulham corner just three minutes later. Fernando Amorebieta had come up for the set piece, but headed over.

The game became more lively though around the 15 minutes mark when Pugh put in a cross for Callum Wilson and the ball was cleared off of Fulham's goal line before a final shot went wide. It was chaos at the back for the white but some how they kept the ball out. Fulham tried to hit back on 20 minutes when Artur Buroc had to make a great save from Ross McCormack although he was later to be flagged offside. The Cherries were beginning to get on top now and Wilson was next to test Bettinelli low down to his left. Ritchie and Pugh were finding plenty of joy on the wings and Pitman was next to shoot but just too high on 23 minutes.

Steve Cook was doing the blocking at the other end whenever McCormack tried his luck, but Rodallega was not really giving Ross McCormack much support. Come half time Rodallega was subbed! It had been quite a scrappy game up until now but a Daniels' run down the left with a low cross left Brett Pitman with a crisp finish from around the penalty spot to put the Cherries one up on 29 minutes, beating the keeper to his left! Come'on you Cherries!! 0-1.

We were already bouncing in the stand but before we could celebrate for long with a bout of "We're top of the league!" Fulham were trying to get an immediate reply only for offside flags to go up against McCormack and Ruiz. With the ball pushed out to AFCB's right wing, we waited for Ritchie to cut inside, with Francis cleverly taking runners out wide, and while we expected Ritchie to play the ball square his sudden shot from the edge of the box seemed to get deflected and shot in at the near post to make it 0-2! It was not something Fulham's keeper will not want to watch back too many times.

With 37 minutes on the clock it already looked like game over. Fulham's only reply was to win a couple of corners as the half ran out of time.

The Championship table at half time. I had trouble keeping
the camera straight as the drink had been rather flowing last
night but I think that's the Cherries back at the top.

Cherries FanCam: AFCB Richard gets the camera pointed toward him at half time.
 The other fans around me had had a little too much to drink 
so I was pleased to speak to someone who was still coherent.

Second Half
Rodallega was replaced by Matt Smith at half time and Fulham came out with much more about them from the start. Boruc had a few early catches to make but nothing too strenuous. McCormack as usual was the only Fulham player that looked capable of troubling the big Pole but he could not get his shooting on target and fired over on 49 minutes. Arter was clearly winning the midfield battle came close to scoring when he hit a drive over the bar on 53 minutes.

Fulham were trying to close down more and with a bit of possession Bryan Ruiz might have done better on 54 minutes when he shot wide. The following incident saw Wilson out muscle Nikolay Bodurov for the ball and having won the chance he promptly went on to lash the ball past Bettinelli, but the assistant referee adjudged the shoulder charge to be a foul and the goal was chalked off on 56 minutes. Andrew Surman was pushing forward more now as well as the Cherries looked to finish the Whites off.

AFCB's third goal was a stupendous effort from Brett Pitman. He picked the ball up from Tommy Elphick in his own half and set about running straight at Fulham's back line. He shrugged off Scott Parker and suddenly saw a space as the advancing Shaun Hutchinson left a big whole in behind him. I never thought Brett was the quickest of players but he had too much about him for Hutchinson who ended up on all fours, while Scott Parker was left in Pitman's wake. Left with the keeper to beat, Brett tucked his shot neatly away with his left foot in the bottom left corner - it was 0-3 and AFCB were cruising.

The Cherries dominance did stutter for one moment on 66 minutes when Fulham played some accurate passing around AFCB's 'D' and McCormack slipped in Matt Smith down the side of Tommy Elphick and he wasted no time in finding the roof of the net from 12 yards -1-3! Fulham were on the score sheet. But It only made the Cherries work even harder.

Pitman had the chance to extend the lead shortly after when his volley was well saved by Fulham's keeper, but Fulham landed themselves in all kinds of trouble when Amorebieta came in from behind to stop a Wilson run down the right, only to take him down just outside the box. I expected a yellow card, but the referee showed a red and Fulham were down to 10 men with 20 minutes still to play.

The free kick was in a good area to the right side of goal and while Fulham had built a five-man wall which split in two as Andrew Surman played a short pass to Matt Ritchie. Ritchie's shot was directed right in the right hand corner and the keeper didn't even get a chance to move - it was 1-4! Kit Symons will have nightmares about that one!

Fulham made two substitutions immediately after with Seko Fofana and Konstantinos Stafylidis coming on for Ruiz and Kavanagh on 72 minutes. Almost straight away Fulham had a chance to reduce the deficit as McCormack and Smith linked up well again, but this time Boruc made a stunning save with his left hand to keep the score at 1-4.

AFCB were in total command now and Pitman put a header wide in search for his third of the night. Arter also fired wide a few minutes later. Fresh legs then came on for the Cherries with Tokelo Rantie replacing Callum Wilson on 77 minutes. Pugh was also replaced on 80 minutes by Adam Smith.

The Cherries had not quite finished though as there was to be a fifth goal and not from a striker but from Steve Cook who was found by Adam Smith. Cook let a ball drift out to the right side of the box before he simply lashed a shot right into the top corner on the angle to leave his team mates absolutely stunned by the strike that had put them 1-5 up and out of sight. It reminded me of when Ian Harte had scored last season at Birmingham and was pointing to his left foot - this strike was probably even better. Goal of the season is going to be a difficult one this year.

With four minutes left Ritchie was subbed for Junior Stanislas and there was just enough time before the five minutes of extra time for Fulham's Seko Fofana to pick up a yellow card for fouling - you guessed it - Adam Smith. Extra time was merely denying Fulham an early exit from the pitch because this was Bournemouth's night when they had shown irresistible form once again.

Not many Fulham fans left in the ground now.

Blurry end to the game - my excuse is we were
 jumping up and down too much and nothing was very much in focus by this time.

Thanks lads - absolutely magnificent! What can I say?

Summary
What a cracking night of football for AFCB fans. It was just a joyous occasion from the first to the last minute. It makes you wonder how this Cherries side ever failed to beat teams like Huddersfield and Blackburn, because they were just on a different level to Fulham for the whole game. The movement and the slickness of the passing was just a pleasure to watch and this kind of performance would have ripped much better sides than Fulham apart. While it is nice to know that the Cherries have been able to perform like this in front of the cameras, it was the three points that they wanted and that is just enough to put them on top of the league again at least for a few hours before the Saturday matches.

Player of the match is a hard one as the whole team was first rate, but i'm giving it to Brett Pitman because his finishing was on another plant tonight, what a shame he did not get three!

Cheers Eddie have a great weekend and then let's get ready for Blackpool.

Fulham
Bettinelli, Hoogland, Hutchinson, Bodurov, Amorebieta, Parker, Tunnicliffe, Kavanagh (Fofana 72), Ruiz (Stafylidis 72), Rodallega (Smith 45 ), McCormack

Fulham Subs
Kiraly, Stafylidis, Smith, Fofana, Voser, Woodrow, Burn

AFCB
Boruc, Francis, Elphick, Cook, Daniels, Ritchie (Stanislas 86),Surman, Arter, Pugh (Smith 81), Pitman, Wilson (Rantie 77)

AFCB Substitutes
Camp, Rantie, Smith, MacDonald, Kermorgant, Stanislas, Ward

AFCB Ratings

Boruc 7, Francis 8, Elphick 7, Cook 8, Daniels 7, Ritchie 9, Surman 7, Arter 7, Pugh 8, Pitman 9, Wilson 8

Ref Watch: Andy Madley 5/10 not really sure that he should have sent a man off but these things go against you when you are down near the bottom.

AFCB need to change up a gear against Leeds

While AFCB have been unbeaten in their last two games, there is a mood about the place that they are not hitting their stride at the moment. That may be good news for Leeds fans who will be making quite a lot of noise when they visit Dean Court. The problem for Bournemouth has been their home form, although evening games bring out the best in performances and they are in need of one now.

Daniels looked closer to his best against Rotherham.

Leed's comeback against Birmingham at the weekend will have given them a boost. Under Neil Redfearn Leeds are unbeaten having also won at Bolton a couple of weeks ago. They are a team that are playing like their backs are to the wall and the need for results for the Yorkshire team has never been greater. The departures of Ross McCormack and Matt Smith will have weakened the team, but Redfearn has galvanised some spirit back at the club and they are not a team that is shy at coming forward having had 12 shots away at Birmingham and forcing seven corners.

Is Junior Stanislas primed for a big role against Leeds?

Can Surman play with the freedom to shoot more?

Bournemouth will be watching those corners for sure but it is important that the Cherries don't sit back. I was pleased to see Charlie Daniels being far more positive in the Rotherham game and he played strongly. Whether Andrew Surman is ready to play more minutes is questionable but I imagine Junior Stanislas has been held back for this game. The best way to keep Leeds away from AFCB's goal is to get players like Stanislas, Fraser and Ritchie on the ball. I'm expecting to see plenty of that in tonight's game. UTCIAD!

The AFCB official site indicates that Rantie and Kermorgant are struggling with injuries so it could be just one up front tonight or Pitman could get a start, while Eddie may also look at the midfield with some fresh legs.

For an insight into life at the bottom of the table put yourself in the position of a Fulham fan for a moment and take a look at - Do Fulham need a change of guard?

Have the Cherries got the belief to beat Leeds Utd?

Off the pitch matters are more in the papers following Leeds Utd than happenings on the field of play. While the Italian takeover may have hit a bit of a brick wall concerning Massimo Cellino's ambitions it must be having a big affect on how the Leeds team is preparing itself for games at the moment. Brian McDermott has to be worried about what happened in February when he was sacked and his players need to know that he is there to take them forward.

But this is football at Leeds Utd. It's not an ordinary club. If they could only get it together for one season they surely would again be a big force once they got into the Premiership. But their recent form has just about stalled any hopes they had of squeezing into the play-offs. One draw and three consecutive defeats to Burnley, Reading and Bolton hardly got March off to a good start for the Yorkshire giant. Against Millwall it was a lot better for Leeds with a string 2-1 home win and morale will be up after that.

At least they have what is by considered by many to be the best striker in the Championship. Ross McCormack could surely have jumped ship if he had wanted by now but he has stayed loyal and Leeds fans must live him for that. He is one of those players who makes something out of nothing and he surely will get 30 goals this season which will be a great achievement. But McDermott has other ways of playing with the sharp finishing of Connor Wickham now available to him. Bournemouth were lucky that Connor was injured when he was at Hillsbrough, but they are likely to face him in a Leeds shirt. Matt Smith is another option up front who could use his physical and aerial abilities to cause the Cherries problems. 

But my eyes will be on Jason Pearce for a lot of the match. The ex-Bournemouth player never shirked a tackle and always gave 110 per cent in a Cherries shirt and I was pleased for him when he first got his move to Pompey and then Leeds Utd. I still ask myself if he might consider a move back to the south coast now that Eddie Howe is at the helm again and has taken Bournemouth to the Championship. It maybe that Leeds do a bit of re-organisation over the summer and McCormack might not be the only player that there is some interest for.

Allsop saw red last time AFCB played Leeds Utd.

AFCB will remember the match they played against Leeds earlier on in the season when Allsop was sent off and Darryl Flahavan came on to save a penalty even if the team went on to lose 2-1 in an exciting game. I hope that the game at Dean Court is not quite as difficult for the Cherries as that game was, being down to 10 men for most of the match. 

Bournemouth have never beaten Leeds Utd I have been told, but they will not get many better opportunities than this. My head tells me that a draw would still be a good result but there are a few teams in this league that make you sit up if they don't win and this is one of those games. AFCB can upset the expected result and with victory would come more belief. We go tonight to the game with hope and a certain amount of confidence that the Cherries will give Leeds a very difficult game.

Leeds Away form:
WLDDL

AFCB Home form:
WLDWD

Make sure to take a look at Rival Lines if you have not read up about The Scratching Post's blogger interview with Cherry Chimes. We talk Massimo Cellino, Brain McDermott and Jason Pearce among other things that are Leeds Utd. 

Cherry Chimes talks to the Scratching Shed: LUFC, Cellino and McDermott

Match Preview

AFCB v Leeds Utd

Blogger Interview - The Scratching Shed

Cherry Chimes is really looking forward to the fixture against Leeds Utd. So to get some views from a passionate Yorkshire blogger ahead of the game I got back in contact with David Wilkinson at The Scrathching Shed who has a few words to say about all the goings on at Leeds Utd. So where shall we start?

CC: Do you think Brian McDermott is fighting a noble but losing battle at the club or do you hope and believe fan pressure will save him his job?

TSS: McDermott is such a nice guy that I think he'll always have a fiercely loyal group of supporters behind him, of which I was probably one at some stage. However, we've won 3 games in the last 17, 2 of which came against poor relegation sides (Yeovil and Millwall), both of which we were lucky to win and the other a 5-1 win over Huddersfield while he was sacked.

I have every sympathy for the situation McDermott has been put in, but I don't see how any of it stops him from getting eleven men to kick a ball around with some degree of competency? That the same eleven men won 5-1 against Huddersfield after he was sacked is alarming, it's as if he can't motivate them to perform that way for some reason. He started off really well, but since the takeover chaos its gone so far downhill I don't know if he can recover.

I'd love to throw my support behind McDermott because I do believe that at a calm and stable club where he can concentrate on coaching, he'll do very well. But Leeds United never has and never will be that club, there's always some sort of chaos surrounding us and the manager has to be able to be able to deal with that. Instead he's allowed it to become an acceptable excuse for the same eleven men who started the season fairly well to perform terribly. That's bad management no matter how you try to justify it.

CC: What do you think of the whole Cellino fiasco and who is mostly to blame?

TSS: I was always on the fence with Cellino to be honest with you. We need the cash and he seems to have plenty of it so I was willing to give him a chance, but he's also rather erratic and seems to interfere with first team affairs more than any owner should.

That said, I sympathise with what he's had to go through in trying to purchase this club. I don't believe he'd have faced the same level of scrutiny from The Football League if it wasn't for the media attention, his whole life has been dissected in public and he's been subjected to a character assassination for accountancy practices he genuinely seemed to believe were legal. Compared to the stuff Ken Bates pulled, it all seems rather insignificant.

Still, the rules are the rules and The Football League have properly enforced their Owners' & Directors' test for the first time ever. The length of time it took to make this decision was ridiculous and I'll be very annoyed if the same thorough vetting isn't applied to all future takeovers, but I can't argue with the decision itself.

Who's to blame for the fiasco then? That'd be the current owners, it all begins and ends with them no matter how you look at it. Even McDermott's sacking which led to the media outrage is on them, because they led Cellino to believe he already owned the club. And this is the second time they've failed to sell the club in 3 months. Utterly incompetent.

CC: We hear today that Cellino's takeover has been blocked so is there any other potential owners lined up that you know of?

TSS: The only other option we're aware of is a consortium led by Mike Farnan going by the name of Together Leeds. They tried to buy the club before Cellino, but he came in with another offer which far exceeded the one they'd made and were shut out by the club thereafter.

CC: How come Ross McCormack scores so many goals?

TSS: I taught him everything he knows. CC: Ha, ha brilliant answer :-)

TSS: No seriously, he's always been a quality player but too often wasted by previous managers at Leeds who've had him playing out-wide due to a long-running lack of options.

He's just a quality player, his form this season doesn't surprise me at all.

CC: How do you think Matt Smith is coming along?

TSS: I've been one of his biggest critics, but he's slowly winning me over and you can't really argue with his goal return considering the amount of pitch time he's had. Overall, I think he's been worth the punt.

CC: Has ex-Bournemouth captain Jason Pearce had a good season apart from the own goal against Burnley?

TSS: He's been the best of a bad bunch in Leeds' truly horrific defence, which isn't helped by the poor state of the midfield in front of them.

CC: What do you think was behind the heavy home defeats against Bolton and Reading?

TSS: A totally demotivated playing squad, none of them looked like they wanted to be there, and for me, that comes back to the manager. How hard is to psych eleven players up for a match at Elland Road? They look like strangers thrown into the lion's den without a plan of action, I've never seen a Leeds United side look so afraid on home soil.

CC: What are your hopes for the remainder of the season - mid table is not really good enough for Leeds United is it?

TSS: I just hope it goes by quickly, we're simply here to make the numbers up at this stage.

CC: Are you disappointed that you can't play Bournemouth on a Saturday rather than a mid-week night?

TSS: The local authorities in Bournemouth aren't big fans of Leeds United so it's probably just as well. If this was a weekend fixture, we'd be policed like terror suspects and the whole atmosphere would become hostile as a result. Not that it matters much to me, I've given up on this season and booked to fly to Barcelona tomorrow.

CC: I guess it is never easy to be a Leeds fan as it is a club that has the history to be up there with the greatest clubs in England and yet it is still plagued by problems off the pitch and if someone can just get it right there they will be rivalling the very best teams in the land. But there is no simple fix it seems. Even when Leeds have a bad season though they are still a mid-table team in the Championship so perhaps they are not so far away from getting some of the right pieces to the puzzle in place. 

If the Leeds players are not up for the end of season scramble for more points though they may come unstuck against a Bournemouth team that is looking to finish as high as it can this season. Whatever the outcome I am sure it will be a keenly fought game as it was at Elland Road. Thanks again David for some honest opinions and I hope Barcelona has a bit more sunshine than at Leeds Utd. For more of David's writing, including the latest on Massimo Cellino's rejected takeover of Leeds Utd, please visit  The Scrathing Shed website.