Kenwyne Jones is in a strange but enviable position

It must be a bit strange for Kenwyne Jones to suddenly find himself up rooted and driven down to the south coast where he now finds himself in a promotion battle. He would be forgiven for having a few mixed feelings having been with a team that would have hoped to be in a position to be challenging at this stage for top honours but for whatever reasons Cardiff City have not really fired this season.

So Kenwyne is now with AFCB and will most likely be putting on the shirt on Good Friday to see if he can resurrect some of his hopes of what could have been this season. He still has a personal milestone to try and achieve 20 goals and he couldn't be in a better place than with the highest goal scoring team to try and get those seven goals in the last seven games.

What did interest me is what Kenwyne said on the official AFCB club site in that Eddie Howe's training session was like nothing he had ever seen before and how impressed he was with the training and philosophy of the club. Kenwyne has been with some big Premier League clubs so for him to say Eddie Howe is the best manager he has been the best he has worked with in that short space of time is quite something.

If Kenwyne is really up for this like I would hope AFCB fans want him to be, he could just fill his boots with goals for the Cherries and that would be a pretty amazing way for him to end the season. You can still vote on our poll to let us know if you think Kenwyne will be a hit or not in these last seven games by scrolling down the side panel on this blog until you get to the poll.

Cherry Chimes April Newsletter - is out this morning!

Cherry Chimes' April Newsletter picks over the top stories from the blog in March.

You can read extra posts as well that are not on the blog entitled: 'The scrap for the title is on and the special newsletter story: 'Is Pitman under-rated by fans? All you need to do is sign up here if you don't already receive the newsletter:

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Silly season starts early

We have not even reached the end of the season yet and the gossip columns are already going crazy with highlighting Charlie Austin to AFCB and Matt Ritchie being a target for Hull City. It's good to talk of course and to mark out possible key signings, but I hate to tell everyone - the season is not over yet and AFCB's players have the biggest seven games to play in their careers to date.

That is the reality. I know Eddie Howe will be telling the players they can forget about holidays and transfer moves at the moment. If they are not 100 per cent focused on the task ahead of them, two weeks in the city of Hull might be their next reward and not Dubai. AFCB's players seem to have their heads screwed on though, and it is perhaps more a reflection on the journalists not having much to say until the football gets underway again.

Matt's in demand - who's next?

Still there is likely to be some movement of players both in and out. The months of June and July could be very busy, but our manager is not going to have much time before he is being questioned about player availability by the sound of it even if the Cherries do go up. The excitement about the Cherries squad is not just that they are good players but that so many of them are British home-grown players and with all the chatter in the last week about how Greg Dyke, chairlam of the FA, would like to bring in new rules to limit the amount of foreign players in the Premier League, all of a sudden those teams that are in and around the top of the Championship probably look like chests of gold to those already in the promised land.

Rumours are always going to be around, but one note of caution I should mention is that Birmingham City have been looking to see who they could replace Demarai Gray with should he chose to leave the Blues in the summer. Whether that indicates that AFCB are still keen on the young international is hard to say but if AFCB can't hold on to Ritchie it wouldn't be a great surprise to see Demarai Gray on the south coast at some point during the summer. Silly season - it's not too far away. 

Cherry Chimes April Newsletter - out tomorrow!

Tomorrow we'll be releasing the Cherry Chimes' April Newsletter which picks over the top stories from the blog in March.

You can read extra posts there entitled 'The scrap for the title is on and the special newsletter story  - 'Is Pitman under-rated by fans? All you need to do is sign up here if you don't already receive the newsletter:

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Listening in on SKY Sports' Simon Thomas and Eddie Howe (Video)

We must have been some of the last few fans to disperse from the Goldsands stadium after the Middlesbrough match. As it was an early kick off I did not really feel the need to race off home back to Surrey having just seen the Cherries dispatch a Championship rival with such a delicious display, so I decided to hang around a bit with Robert and Stephen to see if we could catch any celebrates after the game.

Simon Thomas checks his phone while Darren Anderton watches players warm up.

To my surprise Simon Thomas and Darren Anderton were not going to hide up in the high box studio that had been constructed for them between the Family stand and the North stand after the game. Sky Sports still wanted to do a post-match interview with Eddie Howe right down on the pitch in front of the few fans that had stayed late.

It was a busy day for the Sky team.

Eddie gives his verdict on Arter penalty and overall 
performance of AFCB (sound quality is low).

Sure enough we soon saw Eddie start dashing towards us and after a few seconds he was all hooked up and ready to go live on air with Simon Thomas looking gleefully pleased to be able to grill Eddie Howe over Harry Arter's rather contentious penalty and the run in. I just about had time to get towards the front and just record whatever I could even though I was a little way back and while the sound quality is not the best you can get a good idea of what Eddie Howe had to say about many aspects of the win against Middlesbrough and I particularly like the interruption from the AFCB fans, and when Simon Thomas hands over at the end by saying and now over to Aitor Karanka to discuss Middlesbrough's heaviest defeat of the season. 

Simon Thomas is keen to get started. 

Just writing down a few notes - this crowd is noisy!

The wind gets up and Simon has to grab his notes quick!

True pro - you wouldn't know he was scrabbling on the floor for his notes three seconds ago. 

Piece to camera done.

AFCB player International watch
Finally, last night Ireland drew 1-1 with Poland in a hotly contested match and neither Artur Boruc or Harry Arter managed to join the game from the bench which was probably good for AFCB as it was a very competitive match.

Ritchie gets 45 minutes for Scotland

It was a bit of a mixed reaction by Scottish fans on Matt Ritchie's performance in the first 45 minutes against Gibraltar. While he made a great through ball for Shaun Maloney to get on to which led to the initial penalty and gave Scotland the lead, Ritchie did not get on the ball as much as he does for the Cherries and while Scotland were looking shaking at the back at times, he was replaced at half time for another defender - Gordon Greer.

Matt is just getting used to the international scene.

Of course, this was only Matt's second cap and Gordon Strachan is probably aware of what potential Matt has and that AFCB are involved in a massive race for the Championship. For all we know Eddie Howe may have asked that Matt be not asked to play 90 minutes in both matches while he was away with the Scotland squad. Scotland were also 4-1 up at half time and so the points were really in the bag for this game by half time considering Gibraltar had not scored this campaign in any of their other fixtures. 

It was still noticeable that Ritchie was chosen to start ahead of Derby's Johnny Russell both against Northern Ireland and Gibraltar. Strachan clearly was not worried about putting Matt right into the heat of battle with a European Qualifier and while Gibraltar are not the most dangerous of sides, the fact that they scored against Scotland and gave them plenty of problems in the first 20 minutes illustrated that they are not the push over some might have thought.

Matt is hopefully going to return fresh for AFCB.

I did feel Matt did not get on the ball as much as he would have liked and when he did get it he did find the big number nine - Steven Fletcher - quite well with his crosses and if Strachan is looking for a quality crosser of the ball, then Matt should be in his plans going forward. It is not only Matt Ritchie who needs to get to know how Gordon Strachan's team play, Scotland also need to try and give Matt what he needs to get the best out of him. 

We did see Matt have one shot in the first half against Gibraltar but it was tame and right at the keeper. It is may be going to take Matt a bit more time to contribute in a Scotland shirt as well as he does in an AFCB shirt but I was just thankful that he did not pick up an injury and that he can use the experience to add to what he has already learnt in the Championship.

Scotland ran out 6-1 winners against Gibraltar.

Sky presenters get to work at AFC Bournemouth (videos)

There was plenty of fun and a few jobs for Sky presenters Jim white and Natalie Sawyer at Dean Court before the Middlesbrough match. I got down to the ground early as I knew they would be around and I wanted to see whether the banter that we often see on screen is the same when they would be meeting the fans and hopefully doing some work to keep AFCB bringing in the cash.

It started  out as a friendly competition to puts some names and numbers on the back of shirts. 

Jim was rather chuffed with his Scottish McRitchie shirt.

Natalie was taking it very seriously and wanted to do a good
 job especially with Jim trying to put her off.

Natalie's turn to make Callum Wilson's shirt.

The Sky Bet Transfer Fund had arranged for Jim and Natalie to be job transferred from their TV studio to the ground as a way of meeting some of the fans and helping out on match day. I caught up with the two presenters as they were heading for the club shop. Jim was keen to get his hands on a McRitchie shirt following the call up for AFCB's new Scottish international squad member who will hopefully get to play in the Euro 2016 qualifiers now. So Barry in the shop got Jim to work on the shirt press to see if Jim could get the letters on straight and Jim managed to keep his yellow tie safe from danger and was quickly bragging about what a great job he had done, before Nathalie got her chance to make a Callum Wilson shirt. I am not to sure if she was confident when she heard the number she had to put on the shirt was  number 13, while Jim was doing everything he could to put her off asking if she had printed 31.

The two presenters moved on to selling some merchandise on the front till, although the queue was building quickly with the long conversations that were now taking place as everyone wanted to have a chat with the likable presenters, while Jim was cracking jokes all the time and putting smiles on faces.

Behind the till in the shop

Serving customers.

Natalie was drawing in the crowds outside.

Jim was also getting lots of photos taken.

Outside Natalie was certainly getting a lot of attention as she did a bit better at selling the Matchday programmes than Jim. The male fans were keen to get a few selfies with Natalie who was more than happy to oblige as long as she out sold Jim which was never really a problem for her.

Natalie is much in demand.

Jim goes close!

I also managed to have a word with Jim and Natalie and thanked them on behalf of our competition winners as Sky Bet had given us three pairs of tickets in the end to give away to AFCB fans for the Middlesbrough match which proved to be a big hit.

At half time the two presenters also had a go at hitting the cross bar, but I think they both need to spend a bit more time on the training pitch before they have another go in front of the crowds.

AFCB International watch Finally, well done to Shaun MacDonald in coming on for Wales yesterday in the 84th minute to help see Wales get a 0-3 away win against Israel.

It was just a perfect day

I'm still getting a thrill out of last weekend and hopefully it's still doing the same for you and for the players. When you go to Dean Court and you see the English Championship Trophy being unboxed in front of you and paraded on its stand for the fans and viewing public to see on TV, you know it is going to be a rather special day. It is really hard to imagine that AFCB are within touching distance of such a prize, but there is a buzz around the ground and the team that is willing them and Eddie to win their first title now and why not? Some team has to win it and the Cherries have been top for more weeks than any other team in the Championship even if the lead has changed some 19 times.

Wouldn't it be great if Tommy Elphick could be lifting this in May.

I must admit I was a bit transfixed by the sight of the silver work in front of me before the match against Middlesbrough. I never realised it was quite so intricately engraved and really a beautiful trophy. I wasn't the only one as many fans that were in the Family and Main stand were soon coming to take a look and having been so close to winning a title two season's ago, you get the feeling that the club knows it has to seize the moment now if it is going to do justice to all the hard work that has been put into the season so far.

Seizing the moment is certainly what happened on 21 March when Eddie's team set about making the best defensive side in the league look extremely average or out of sorts against a rampaging Cherries side that created chance after chance and was by far the better side on the day. 

With the sun casting shadows over the pitch by the time the final whistle had gone, I knew that this had been a very special day. Even Eddie Howe looked like he was relaxed and enjoying the moment although that might have been helped by the thought of the team about to fly off for a few days in the sun - well at least the players not on international duty. The Dubai training camp will really concentrate the players' minds on what is ahead of them and I hope that it is a positive battery charger for them. I think hanging around at home waiting for the next few games will be harder for us fans than for the team, but hopefully we will all have something to celebrate on 2 May. UTCIAD!

Well done to Jake McCarthy who has signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract with the club. there are also new one-year deals for six other players in the Development Squad - goalkeeper Patrick O’Flahertry, full-back Callum Buckley, and midfielders Josh Carmichael, Josh Wakefield, Mason Walsh and Ben Whitfield. Congratulations to them all.

However, Kaye and Aristide Bassele are set to be released.
.

Injuries are not what AFCB need now

The match against Middlesbrough came at the end of another hard period of games for AFCB. It was not great to see both Callum Wilson and Marc Pugh limp off the field towards the end of the game but a lot can happen in 13 days and it will be interesting to see whether either of them make it back to be fully fit for the Ipswich match. 

Marc Pugh will have to recuperate over the
international break to get his ankle better. Eddie Howe said
 it was an impact injury and should not be a long term problem..

If not then we could see a change to the strike force for the Portman Road game, while Ryan Fraser is possibly the most likely stand in for Pugh. It is going to be a period of time now when AFCB just have to wait and see how their players come through the international matches and who is going to be available. 

I saw that Southampton lost Fraser Forster in their game against Burnley but thankfully the Saints cannot recall Artur Boruc at this stage of the season. Artur himself will be involved in Poland's international against the Republic of Ireland and could go face to face with Harry Arter. Meanwhile, Matt Ritchie will also hopefully come through unscathed from his time with the Scottish squad while Shaun MacDonald also has a call up for Wales.

I can't remember a recent period when so many of AFCB's players have had call ups. Even Bailey Cargill will be playing for England's U20s and Benjamin Buchel is with the Liechtenstein
squad. It has been a great time for Bournemouth players and you can start to understand why fans of other clubs get nervous around this time when their players are involved in internationals. It will probably mean that I will take more interest in the friendlies and Euro 2016 qualifiers just because I'll want to see how well the AFCB players do, but I kind of also feel that the internationals are a bit of a hindrance at such a crucial stage of the season.