AFCB on loan report

I thought it would be good to catch up with a few AFCB players that are currently at other clubs on loan to see how they are faring. Top of my list were those at Coventry City as I had seen that the Midland's club is only sitting mid-table and I wondered how much game time some of the AFCB players had been getting. I also wanted to see how much news there was on Miles Addison's injury and how Jayden Stockley and Matt Tubbs were doing in League Two and what of Stephan Zubar after his Scottish adventure?

Jayden has been doing well at Cambridge Utd.

Coventry City are one team that you can't help but keep one eye on now if you are a Cherries fan. With Ryan Allsop, Josh McQuoid and Mohamed Coulibaly at the club it is by far the team most supported by on loan AFCB players. Tonight, the Sky Blues will finally play their first game home back at the Rioch Arena. It will been quite an occasion for the home fans as well as for Coventry players and with Gillingham the opposition it was a chance to leap frog them in the league table. Coventry have gained six points before the game and Josh McQuoid is beginning to look the part for them having scored two league goals this season in his forward role against Barnsley and Swindon, plus a goal in the Football League Trophy against Wycombe Wanderers. Keeping out the goals has been a test for Ryan Allsop who has done reasonably okay just letting in six in his first five matches, while he earned a clean sheet against promotion favourites MK Dons. Mohamed Coulibaly has made the subs bench against Swindon, MK Dons, Barnsley and Sheffield Utd but has yet to make his debut for the Sky Blues from what I can see. Maybe he'll get his chance tonight.

Miles is back in the treatment room and may need an operation.

Miles Addisson has had even worse luck at Scunthorpe as he is now back at AFCB receiving assessment after injuring a knee against Walsall which was the Iron's first three points of the season. Miles loan spell was due to end at the start of September but probably would have continued if he had not have got injured. I expect Miles to go back out on loan as soon as he is fit again (perhaps six to eight weeks) and you'd expect Russ Wilcox to have the first say on having him if he is wanted back at Scunthorpe who are really short on numbers. 

Another defender we have not seen at AFCB for a while is Stephan Zubar who was on trial at Cambridge Utd at the end of pre-season and then went up to Partick Thistle for three days to try and get some games. He played for Thistle against Sunderland in a 3-1 pre-season win, but transfer deadline day has passed without any news on a potential move, although he is now reported to be heading to Crewe Alexandria for a trial, according to the Echo.

Dropping down a division it is worth having a quick look at Cambridge Utd and AFCB Wimbledon. Jayden Stockley has been on target twice against Carlisle and has helped united up to ninth in the division. Meanwhile, Matt Tubbs has been hitting form and is already up to five goals, four of which were in the league, so AFC Wimbledon are going to be pleased with him.

Torquay Utd is another club with strong links with the Cherries as the manager their is Chris Hargreaves, former AFCB 1st team coach. Josh Wakefield has just gone to the Conference club and played a few late minutes against Dartford and 45 minutes against Lincoln, but was taken off as Torquay changed their system at half time. A few more matches at that level though should give Josh invaluable experience. It certainly was a good club for Bailey Cargill and Jayden Stockley last season.

Oxford Utd are full of new players for Cherries' visit

AFCB travel up to Oxford for their last pre-season game. The League Two side have lost their main strike man Dave Kitson this summer who retired, but there are plenty of new players coming into their squad to make it a feisty encounter. They have also had a change in manager this summer as Michael Appleton has joined the club after Gary Waddock was sacked in July. More importantly Oxford have been receiving multiple takeover bids. Still, Ian Lenagan and Darryl Eagles are not looking to hang about in getting the club out of League Two.

Oxford are one of those clubs that plays in a stadium with only three stands - a familiar feeling for AFCB supporters. However, there is a lot of talk about the desire for the Us to build a new stadium and move away from the Kassam stadium which holds 12,500. Other debates going on at the club this summer have included the very important decision of what to call the home supporter's bar which has been renamed The Manor Bar after the previous home ground.

Bringing in new players though has been upper most in Michael Appleton's mind and among the new signings are Michael Collins a 28-year-old Irish midfielder who has arrived from Scunthorpe Utd and should add experience to the team. In goal, Oxford are likely to play new signing George Long who made 73 appearances for the Blades and has been the England U20 keeper - so a great signing for the Us. Right back Joe Riley, 22, has also come in on loan from Bolton until January.Appletone's latest signing is Junior Brown from Fleetwood, who can play at left back or left midfield. Up front Oxford are likely to play Danny Hilton who was signed from Rotherham in the summer and Alfie Potter, presuming that their are no injuries.

Talking of injuries, the Oxford team could be without Johnny Mullins at centre back who was injured in a friendly against Wolves recently.

Pre-season has gone pretty well for the yellow shirts as they have beaten Farnborough 1-2 and Oxford City and Didcot Town by a single goal each, but their last outing was a 0-1 defeat to Wolves at home. Last season Oxford finished 8th in League Two, just outside the play-offs so they are more than capable of giving AFCB a difficult time. AFCB's line-up could include some of those not on show yesterday like Kermorgant, Satnislas, Wilson, Cook and Arter but there will be major interest in the goalkeeper selection.

Don't forget All Departments spoke to John Harriss this week and you can listen to his Pitch Perfect podcast.

Scunthorpe to give Addison a go

It has been a pretty tortuous time for Miles Addison at AFCB. He has been club captain and even got a string of games in the 2012-13 season, but as soon as he got injured he never regained his place in the side and Eddie Howe must be pleased that he can now move him on even if only for a month. 

Miles is back in the frame to play some games, but this time at Scunthorpe.

While it seems Miles has been around for ever, it may surprise some to hear that he is still only 25. Like just about everybody though I always felt he was too slow at the back and Eddie Howe is clearly looking for more agile and composed players on the ball. Yet Miles may find that he is a dominant player at the back for Scunthorpe in League One, where he might have a bit more time and know how to be one step ahead of some of the forwards he will be up against.

There was no real place for Miles at AFCB and a loan deal was always likely and I hope he makes the most of this chance to start a fresh. If he does come back in a months time I wonder how he would feel about Baily Cargill getting the nod in front of him? Football can be a cruel game and I don't think any player expects to be out of favour until it actually happens to them. All you can do is keep your head down and keeping working hard and to be fair Miles is a pro in that respect. A loan will give him the opportunity to enjoy playing again at a good level and should get him in the window for a longer move in January I would imagine.

Both Stephane Zubar and Miles Addison were at the club before Eddie Howe's second managerial period at AFCB and it has taken a long time for either player to play any kind of football even at Development level. It makes you realise that whoever the Cherries sign on long contracts is a risk and that while signings are always craved by supporters home grown talent may work out better and more cost effective if of course you can hold on to that talent or cash in on it at a profit.

The observant ones among you may have seen that there is a new tab on the blog called Kyle's Cups. Following Kyle Cotter's World Cup reports he has kindly offered to follow various cup competitions this season. In his first report he looks at Hull City's Europa League opponents on Thursday - FK AS Trencin 

AFCB find a knockout punch to sink Irons

Match Report

1 April 2013AFCB 1 v 0 Scunthorpe Utd
Attendance: 7465 (including 146 Away fans)

The officials had a good day with few controversial decisions

Waiting for the teams to come out

I had a funny kind of feeling as I left Dean Court today. The team played well enough to earn the one nil win over Scunthorpe Utd and AFCB consolidated its second place in the league for the moment. I should be really happy and to some extent I was, it was a professional performance but in another way I also wanted to  see more. Am I getting greedy I wondered?

Scunthope's player a pre-kick-off run around is required

Bournemouth's players prefer to high five and hug each other

The arrival of Scunthorpe at the Goldsands Stadium did not have me fearful of AFCB losing its recent winning steak. After all, the team has been playing with a bit of a swagger. Mr Ritchie has excited everyone on the right wing and Brett Pitman has been scoring goals for fun. Meanwhile, the defence has been tidy and has regained its penchance for clean sheets. Tommy Elphick is back and Ryan Allsop has hardly had a shot to save, so I was going to enjoy this game, wasn't I?

Well the first half drew me in to my usual worship of Eddie Howe's magnificent team.The only change from last time out was the replacement of Lewis Grabban, who was ill, with Matt Tubbs. Eunan O'Kane's crutches on Saturday were clearly just a precaution and he returned to the team.

While Jimmy Ryan had an early wayward shot off target for Scunthope as early as the second minute, normal service was quickly resumed with Ritchie pressing down the right before being felled by Newey who picked up the day's first yellow card.

Pitman was making a nuisance of himself, chasing down everything, winning headers and generally being first to the ball whenever he sensed it on his radar.

The first 10 minutes were a Bournemouth demonstration in possession football. The best Scunny could do was to hoof the ball out in to touch and clear their lines. Francis was bashing in high crosses from the right which were usually too strong, but after a chance for O'Kane coming in from the left spilled back out to the right of the box it was soon returned with interest to find Pitman waiting to put the Cherries one up with a raised foot finish. We were off to a flying start after just 10 minutes.

Arter's midfield presence was immense, he just shrugged Duffy off the ball and picked his pocket, while Bournemouth started to get after the Irons playing a high pressing game. On 18 minutes it looked like Pitman had scored again with the ball in the back of the net, but he was judged to be offside.

Daniels started to have some strong runs down the left with Pugh and Pitman linking play. When Scunthorpe did get the ball down our end of the pitch they seldom held on to it for long and AFCB's free-flowing style had the home crowd feeling that they were in for a treat today.

After 25 minutes Scunthorpe were starting to get into the game a bit more, but were getting caught offside. Mark Duffy's shot was also confidently held by Allsop. And while Francis continued to supply crosses into the Iron's box, we all thought it would be just a matter of time before the second goal came.

There was glimpses of Scunthorpe's attacking menace when Barcham jumped through two Bournemouth players and tried to find Hawley, but the ball ran safely away. The ball was also headed into the Cherries' net by Tom Newey, from a corner, but the ball had curled out as the cross came over and Allsop was fouled in the build up, so it was disallowed.

This made the Cherries step things up a gear and Ritchie charged down a long ball that Scunthopre's left back could not deal with as he put it our for a corner. Bournemouth's work rate was much higher than the opposition, but they could not find a finish.
Then Scunthopre had a dangerous break that saw the ball fed from the right over to the left far post where it was knocked down to Hawley's feet on the six yard box. For a moment, time stood still but Allsop was aware of the danger and pounced, cat-like on the ball before the forward could turn to get a shot in.

The first half was coming to a close but not before Ritchie decided to take a yellow card by pulling on a player's shorts when he had been beaten in the centre circle.

Crosses continued to reign down on Scunthorpe's box, first Ritchie, then Francis fired across from the right but when Daniels flew in from the left, his cross ran right across the six yard box and had only needed a touch to find the net if someone had anticipated it.      

With the half time entertainment seeing Cherry Bear keep a clean sheet after six spot kicks from Junior Cherries we hoped for more goals in the second half.

Goals are hard to come by at Dean Court, even Cherry Bear
keeps a clean sheet

AFCB seemed to be trying a few long balls over the top for Pitman and Tubbs to chase in the opening salvos of the second half. In one instance the North stand cried out that Mirfin had handled the ball but he managed to evade Pitman's clutches with reasonable comfort.
Arter came much closer to altering the score with his fierce shot that was well saved by Johansen at full stretch. Bounemouth were looking dangerous on the break.

However, it was Scunthopre who had a great chance with Duffy tearing free for a shot from the left only to hit the side netting. He was so distraught that he lifted his shirt to hide his head after the miss. A few minutes later he had another shot, having got past Francis but he again failed to trouble Allsop.

The Cherries best move in the second half came when O'Kane made a strong run and found Tubbs in space in the box, but rather than shoot himself he pulled the ball back for Pitman to strike, and he thundered it against the crossbar. It was unselfish by Tubbs, but perhaps the wrong decision.

Some of the Cherries play was great but the final pass was always going astray. I expected to see wave after wave of attack and for a while we did, with Daniels trying to go through everyone only to run into a barrage of defenders.

I'm not sure if cook was getting frustrated or thought he could score the goal of the season when he had a crack at goal from 30 yards out.

AFCB kept the pressure on with Pitman shooting over and then Ritchie smashing one from the right that had the keeper at full stretch again. Arter was also playing well threading balls to Daniels down the left with the crowd gasping at his accuracy.

When Ritchie was taken out by Canavan, the ref played the advantage only for Arter to miss the opportunity.

O'Kane's big moment came when he ran virtually the length of the pitch with the ball on 65 minutes but his shot failed to beat Johansen. While Scunthope managed a few chances like Barchman hitting over the bar their chances were not being taken either.

Cook and Ritchie were typical of the AFCB player's spirit chasing back and challenging Scunthorpe players on the edge of Bournemouth's box. Arter was controlling midfield and picking out longer balls to Pugh and on one occasion Pugh's cross was dummied by Pitman but no one was closing in from behind.

On 72 minutes it was time for a change with Scunthorpe's big guns coming on. Forde made way for Alabi and a few moments later Hawley came off for Akpo Sodje. Bournemouth also took Tubbs off on 72 minutes and put McQuoid on.

Scunthorpe were having a go now with Duffy playing well and James Alabi trying to find a way through the Cherries defence. The home crowd could tell perhaps that the Bournemouth players were flagging a bit and Barmy Army was now ringing out. Francis was having to make interceptions while Jimmy Ryan and Michael Collins were proving a handful. Arter was also getting caught out in midfield.

Eddie Howe made another change with McDonald replacing Pugh who had run himself into the ground and having won a surprising amount of headers over the course of the afternoon. Pitman was still full of running and he carried the fight on.

While Scunthorpe won a corner and brought on Mike Grella for Barchman, you could see by Brain Laws' furious waving, at his keeper, to speed things up that time was against them.

AFCB sucked up most of the final 10 minutes of the game in Scunthorpe's back right corner. It was perhaps not very entertaining but when Fogden came on for Ricthie, we all knew it was about getting the three points.

Fans depart after another home win

Summary
An afternoon that promised lots of potential for excitement and had its moments, AFCB played their carefully crafted possession football and neatly constructed triangles, before ending more like a heavyweight boxer. AFCB were miles ahead on points and playing out time, leaning on their opponent in the final rounds.

At this stage, if that is what it takes to get the victory I don't think we can complain too much. After all, for most of the game the Cherries were on the attack and I felt that towards the end the two games over the Easter period were beginning to catch up on some of the players.  

Both teams thanks their fans

AFCB Player Ratings:   
Allsop 6, Francis 8, Elphick 7, Cook 7, Daniels 7, Ritchie 8, Arter 8, O'Kane 6, Pugh 6, Tubbs 7, Pitman 9

Unused AFCB subs:
Jalal, Fletcher, Seaborne, Hughes.