It had to be them - Liverpool!

I'm not one of those fans who would ever tire of seeing AFCB playing a team like Liverpool. Yes, we know they have been a bit of a sticking point for the Cherries in the League Cup and FA Cup over the last couple of seasons but there have been too many years when AFCB simply have not been on the big stage and have gone out to teams like Preston and Hartlepool before even getting to round four of the Capital One Cup.

Yes, it's Anfield again.

You do wonder though how the balls keep on pairing Liverpool with AFCB. I expect Eddie Howe had a smile and though oh great not a again, but if there is a day when the Cherries beat a side like Liverpool in a cup it is probably going to be the year when the club has a real opportunity of lifting silverware. There is much less of a gap between the two sides now on the pitch as we saw only a few weeks ago and perhaps a different story will play out this time.

Listening to Carlisle and Liverpool take penalties last night to see who would go through to the fourth round was kind of weired as the draw was already known and an away trip to one of them was already booked for AFCB. I guess at least Liverpool is not quite so far and for those who missed the Monday night league fixture it is another chance to go to one of the most historic grounds in the country.

This time Brendan Rodgers maybe under even more pressure than the last few occasions when the teams have met. Liverpool fans must want the game to come quickly as AFCB always seem to kick start their season.  Yet, it is good to see that Danny Ings has made a good start at the club and that Sean O'Driscoll can meet up with his AFCB colleagues again. So the date of Tuesday 27 October will be in AFCB fan's diaries and perhaps this time it will be the time to get past the Merseysiders. Oh, and you can expect a date change if the TV companies are still not tired of another Liverpool v AFCB fixture.

All Departments reviews the AFCB win against Preston North End in the Capital One Cup. Visit All Departments' website to listen in.

Gosling grabs the central midfield role

There was a tough choice to be made over who should start in central midfield against Sunderland. Eunan O'Kane was all over the Matchday programme cover so we might have guessed that he would be the one dropped for the re-emergence of Dan Gosling in the side. It has been a bit of a quandary over why Dan has played so well in cup games for the team but had not managed to cement his place in the side during the league campaigns. Perhaps that is going to change now.

Dan ruled the midfield against Sunderland.

The match against Sunderland was certainly a good game for Dan. He found plenty of space in the midfield and had a big impact on the game, providing the assist for Wilson's opening goal and pushing forward frequently to add to the attacking numbers. We've seen him give away the ball too often in the past in games at home, but he managed to make far fewer mistakes against Sunderland and looked like he was at ease with his own game. What's more he set a new record for distance covered for a player in the Premier League of 8.6 miles.

The central midfield area is still an area where the Cherries have found it hard to keep control for long spells in games and Arter's comeback trail will be carefully monitored, but there is part of me that believes that Dan could prolong his stay in the role if he can finally get a series of games under his belt. The Sunderland game could just be the trigger that he has needed to get his performance levels up to the right height and now that he knows where he needs to be he can try and emulate that in the coming games. 

I also see that by giving players opportunities to come back into the side Eddie Howe is really helping the total squad mentality. Perform below the standard required and you will be dropped, but work hard and produce during the week and on match days and you will get that game time. That has to be Dan's target now to get regular selection.

Cherries win through at Deepdale on penalties

Match Description

Preston North End 2 (AET 2) v 2 (AET 3) AFC Bournemouth

Capital One Cup Third Round

Attendance: 5643 (including 263 Cherries)

AFCB were ahead twice in normal time and again in extra time but were pegged back on both occasions by a determined Preston side that took the Cherries all the way to penalties. Adam Federici was the hero saving from Johnson to take the Cherries through to the fourth round 3-2 on penalties.

The 90 minutes and 30 minutes of extra time before that had been a keenly contested match with Preston giving AFCB a really difficult time coming back with just five minutes to go after a Shaun MacDonald opener and then again when Marc Pugh had put the Cherries 2-1 up in extra time. Hugill and then Johnson scored for Preston. Marc Pugh had handled in the box following a free kick to Preston which gave the Lilywhites there chance to take the game to penalties. Luckily the Cherries survived this scare with Federici pulling off three saves in the shootout, but there will be some tired bodies headed back to the south coast after this one.

AFC Bournemouth named a fairly strong side with only Butcher, Buckley and Surridge from the U21s on the bench and the main 11 was packed with first team regulars Francis, Cook, O'Kane and King. there were nine changes in all from the weekend's game though. I particularly had high hopes for Shaun Macdonald and Christian Atsu who had not seen much action since the start of the season. No Rantie on the bench was probably the biggest surprise, while Joe Bennett was cup tied as he scored the fifth goal in Aston Villa's 5-3 AET win against Notts County in the second round of the cup.

Preston's line up only had last time's goal scorer against Watford Vermijl on the bench but Keane would certainly have to be watched carefully up front.

Teams
AFCB: Federici, Francis, Cook, Cargill, Smith, MacDonald (Gosling 90), O'Kane, Atsu (Tomlin 81), King, Stanislas, Kermorgant (Pugh 81)

Cherries subs: Allsop, Butcher, Buckley, Gosling, Pugh, Tomlin, Surridge.


PNE starting Xl: Pickford, Woods, Clarke, Wright, Cunningham, Humphrey (Vermijl 78), Welsh (Reid 74), Browne, Johnson, Keane, May (Hugill 74)

PNE subs: Kirkland, Vermijl, Smith, Kilkenny, Reid, Brownhill and Hugill.

Macca puts the Cherries 0-1 up  (AFCB tweeted picture).

Match Description
The Cherries played in their home shirts with white shorts. There is about 300 AFCB fans at a guess. Stanislas is the first to shoot at goal but it goes wide.

Francis now blocks a shot. Johnson shoots over! Atsu slips. King has a shot from range that is blocked.

Quarter of an hour gone and no score yet. AFCB are just shading possession. O'Kane plays a ball through to King who shoots from a tight angle but right at the keeper.

Preston are now pressing in the last third, but nothing comes of it. AFCB now win a corner. king tries to connect and his volley is well saved for another corner. This time Stanislas' cross is cleared. Kermorgant gets clattered. Shaun MacDonald has scored on 23 minutes! Macca loops the ball over the back tracking Pickford 0-1.

King attacks now and is into the box. He's past one defender, but his pass does not reach Atsu. Cunningham puts in a cross and it's cleared with Francis who wins a free kick. Kermorgant finds King, square to Atsu. But he loses the ball.

Preston on the attack. The cross comes in and the volley is blocked.

Pickford with a goal kick. Kermorgant's there first. Atsu and Macca. King plays a one two. Preston break. Kermorgant wins the ball back. Stanislas pull back for Francis who shoots but it's blocked for a corner.

It's headed clear. One minute of extra time. It's 0-1 at half time.

Second Half
No changes at the break. Stanislas puts in a low cross but it's cleared. Francis has to head a cross clear. It's Preston coming forward. Humphrey loses control. Stanislas makes a last second tackle, corner to Preston. Clarke goes close heading onto the bar!

Keane does a one two with Johnson who shoots wide!  A big chance for Preston goes begging.
Preston have another corner headed by Wright. Francis clears. King gets a yellow card for a foul on Wright.

Another Preston chance sees the ball loop over the bar. Stanislas with a free kick shoots straight at Pickford. End to end stuff here.

O'Kane loses the ball. AFCB have it back. Atsu and Francis but Pickford collects. AFCB need this second goal. About 25 minutes to go. Cargill looking assured at the back mops up. Expect some subs soon.

Cargill takes the ball off of May. Cherries have a free kick some 40 yards out. Now the Cherries have a throw. Francis' cross is blocked. the game is slowing down.

Keeper comes out to claim in front of King. Smith to O'Kane. MacDonald loses the ball. Humphrey sends in a good cross but it goes out the other side of the box. Double sub for Preston. Stevie May and John Welsh replaced by  Reid on for Hugill on. Atsu shoots over.

King wins a free kick on the edge of the box. It's sent over.15 minutes to go. Humphrey is replaced by Vermijl.

Smith makes a good block. Cherries double sub, Pugh for Kermorgant and Atsu off for Tomlin. Pugh is straight into the action and has a shot that goes wide.

Cook makes a headed clearance. Preston score! Hugill makes it 1-1. What a time to concede! Five minutes to go. 

Smith now on the left. Too long for Pugh. Flag is up for offside. Francis puts in a cross. 

Four minutes of extra time. Macca is down and Gosling is warming up.Gosling is on.

Smith shoots over. Gosling has a free kick. Stanislas kicks it into the keeper's arms.

Reid now wins a corner for Preston. Surely not! Headed away - phew! Extra time.

Extra Time
Federici takes an early through ball. Tomlin loses the ball. Reid and Tomlin can break. Long ball to King is too strong. AFCB in possession. Francis, O'Kane and King, balls out of play. Free kick to AFCB and a yellow card to a Preston player.

Francis hits it and it's deflected. King on the right, Pugh! Goal to AFCB. 1-2 is the score now, AFCB regain the lead.

Pugh makes it 1-2. (AFCB tweeted picture)

Cargill takes a knock but continues. Gosling out to King. O'Kane and King loses the ball. AFCB have another free kick 25 yards out. Tomlin hits the wall. Tomlin wins a corner.

Gosling wins a free kick. O'Kane this time to take. Preston break. Three minutes added on. double save from Tomlin - great saves. Preston attack. Federici clears. Smith has cramp.

Second period of extra time
AFCB have the ball. just thinking how does Gosling do it after that 8.6 miles on Saturday! Tomlin is doing well in midfield. O'Kane down with cramp.

Johnson shoots over. Pugh misses a header but Cargill has the ball. Nine minutes left. AFCB keeping possession and Preston having to foul to get near the ball. O'Kane and Gosling to Francis.

Tomlin finds Pugh, into the box and his shot is deflected for a corner. King volley's wide.

Reid for Preston has a shot that goes over. Cook and Cargill are said to have had the best games according to the AFCB blog - I've hardly mentioned them, eek!

Preston free kick on half way. Ironic cheers. Four minutes left. Strikes Pugh's hand and it's a penalty! I don't believe it. It just bounced up on him. Johnson converts 2-2. Beats Federici to his right.

Two minutes are added on. Smith wins a corner, Cargill shoots but it's cleared.

Full time 2:2 penalties!

The captains are choosing the end and who shoots first
Pens!
Federici saves Keane's penalty to the right side.
Stanislas scores down the middle 1-0 to AFCB
Preston score 1-1
Cook scores 2-1 AFCB
Preston score 2-2
Gosling's penalty is saved
Browne takes a Preston penalty is saved still 2-2
Pugh scores 3-2 AFCB
Johnson for Preston, great save from Federici! That's it.

AFCB are through 3-2 on pens after AET.

Preston will try and hit Cherries on the break

Preston have already dispatched of Crewe and Watford in the Capital One Cup and if Eddie Howe had had his pick I'm sure it would not have been an away tie at Deepdale. Still there is sometimes plenty of merit to be put in taking on teams that are going to make a real game of it and AFCB's players need to have some tough examinations if they are to improve and learn as a group. Simon Grayson is an experienced manager and will want to get one over on Eddie Howe for sure. This Capital One tie will not be a simple matter for the Cherries to get through, but we know they can do it.

Joe Bennett could make his debut for AFC Bournemouth.

Preston may have only beaten Watford 1-0 in the last round but Marnick Vermijl's goal was scored as early as the  eighth minute and the Lilywhites held on for a long time for the win, even if they played against 10-men for most of the game. Still they beat a Premier League club albeit a slightly weakened Watford side, but the Cherries will have taken notice of Preston's ability to keep a clean sheet against such an attacking team as the Hornets.

I was interested to see that Preston played Jordan Pickford in goal ahead of Kirkland and perhaps the same choice will be made for this next game. Joe Garner (suspended) and Jermaine Beckford (rulded out) are two strikers that won't now feature for Preston, while Eoin Doyle is also out as he is cup tied. So Grayson will have to provide a changed team without his first choice strikers.

Preston have not started as well as they might in the Championship, but they have had some big teams in Hull, Ipswich and Middlesbrough and a period of adjustment will be needed.

Preston North End's team last time out against Watford in the Capital One Cup:
Pickford, Clarke, Huntington, Wright, Woods, Vermijl, Brownhill, Kilkenny, Browne, Garner, Reid.

Jason Tindall says the AFCB squad will be used for the Preston match.

My predicted AFCB line up for tonight is as follows:
Federici (GK), Smith (RD), Cook (D), Cargill (CD), Bennett (LD), Atsu (RM), O’Kane (CM), MacDonald (CM), Stanislas (LM), Kermorgant (FW) Murray (FW)

Preston MAD shares some Rival Lines

Rival Lines
Preston NE v AFCB
Capital One Cup
Blogger Interview: Preston NE MAD
Twitter @PNEMAD

It's always great to find out what is happening with historic teams and you don't get much bigger than Preston North End. So ahead of the capital One fixture between Preston and AFCB I had a quick chat with Simon Ostiadal who writes on Preston North End MAD. Let's find out how strong the opposition are for this game.

CC: Last season Middlesbrough put Preston out in the second round of the Capital One Cup (sorry to remind you of that) but you got to the fifth round of the FA Cup going out to Man Utd - so Preston take cup competitions pretty seriously would you say?

PNEM: In league one a cup run meant more revenue whether league cup or FA Cup. In fine margins, with fair play, the additional revenue from cup games was a bonus. It also complemented our league form. Whilst changes will be made the match will be taken seriously.

CC: The match against Watford in the second round of the Capital One Cup was a big result as Watford played a strong side, but did you feel confident the way the team was playing before that match?

PNEM: Defensively we have been strong against the better teams being difficult to break down. It means we are always in the game and rarely take a beating. Watford couldn't break us down and we managed to hold on to an early goal lead.

CC: Strikers seem to have been in short supply by Simon Grayson has brought in Steve May and Eoin Doyle with Kevin Davies leaving, but are some of the low goal counts in matches a bit of a worry for Preston?

PNEM: Scoring has been our problem this season against championship and higher sides. We are set up not to lose meaning our goals mainly come on the counter. It hasn't helped with injuries and suspensions meaning we have had to play one up front at times. Hopefully the new boys will assist.

CC: Joe Garner is the striker that was in great form last season with 25 goals - I'm surprised that other teams did not look at him or perhaps they tried last summer. Can he do it again in the Championship? 

PNEM: Garner will find it harder simply because the defences are tougher and more streetwise. He gets frustrated too easily and whilst I think he will score goals when with a partner his tally will be a lot less than last season.

CC: Who are the wingers in the team and do they have a big impact in the way Preston play?

PNEM: We tend to play wing backs at the moment. New boys Vermijl and Cunningham play whilst the out and out wingers Humphrey and Reid only get limited game time. Unfortunately there's no Present day Tom Finney!

CC: What sort of team would you expect Simon Grayson to play against AFC Bournemouth - will he rest many for the Wolves match the following weekend?

PNEM: He will rotate but still at a strong side. September is a busy month with the league programme. The squad is fairly strong.

CC: Kris Kirkland seems to be being kept out of the side so how well is Jordan Pickford playing in goal since his signing from Sunderland - best loan signing of the summer?

PNEM:  The last few seasons we have picked up young keepers on loan - Rudd from Norwich, Johnstone from United and now Pickford. He seems strong on crosses good shot stopper and high on confidence at the moment.

CC: What do you think Preston fans expect from their team after such a big season in 2014/15 - is Championship survival enough in 2015/16 and a good cup run - perhaps Preston are finally getting the hang of play-off having won 1 in 10?

PNEM:  I think a stable season is in order and anything in mid-table to build on for the future would be ideal. There are games we should win but also many tough games in this league.

CC: Thank you for those comments Simon. Please visit Preston North End MAD for more information on how Preston North End have been doing this season. Well, Preston will be looking to bounce back from their weekend defeat at Brentford in the league, but the Cherries can make quite a few changes for this game. I don't think the Cherries will be able to ease up on this game as it would be easy for them to slip up at Deepdale.

Over on the Premier Talk tab we ask - Can the shock results keep coming?

The Cherries bounce back

The pressure was on to bounce back against Sunderland. A defeat last Saturday would have left the Cherries in the bottom three and without a home win. It was pleasing though that the players wanted to up their game after the Norwich defeat and were quick to show that last week was not a typical performance for them. That was underlined by the speed of the two goals in the first 10 minutes and the need to get in front early on certainly made the win more comfortable than it might have been had Sunderland been able to keep the Cherries out for half an hour.

AFCB made a fast start against Sunderland that won them the game.

It was the style of the win that was really what will give the players a boost. They sparkled with some of their first half play and stunned Sunderland. The response was simply to try and overwhelm the visitors and it was some time before Jermain Defoe had a chance to get involved, and seeing his chance come and go with Steve Cook and Artur Boruc making his job so much harder showed the determination that the team had to try and get that first clean sheet.
There will still be plenty of work to do again though before the Stoke City match. Sunderland did create a couple of chances and were perhaps unlucky to have one goal ruled out. Had the Jeremain Lens header been allowed it would have made it a difficult last few minutes for the Cherries and the early performance did not deserve to see the Cherries having to hang on to get a win. So while AFCB fans can be pleased with the three points there will be an intent to get something from the next game and not to ride an emotional up and down series of results.

In some ways this week may be harder for the team to get it right as Stoke will be determined after their disappointing draw against Leicester and we know that visiting the Britannia is not the easiest of games. However, to get something there will be a very big result and Eddie needs to get that across to his players now.   

Five changes that worked out well

Okay, who got the team line up for AFCB correct on Saturday? I thought not. It is always hard to predict what Eddie Howe is going to do when injuries cause a rethink and while the Cherries have not had many bad days when they do drop below the standards required he does not hang about in pulling those out of the lineup when changes need to be made.

Team changes don't always have to be disruptive. 

It was still very brave to make as many as five changes on the day against Sunderland. While the choice at centre back was enforced with Tommy Elphick sustaining an ankle injury in the week that was kept quiet the big improvement came on the left side with regulars Pugh and Daniels coming back into the side. Those two work so well together that they gave the platform for the early pressure on Sunderland and the team looked more powerful on the left side than it has in recent games.

Other changes saw the return of Dan Gosling in central midfield which was perfect for this game as well as the reintroduction of Lee Tomlin who has certainly been given the nod over Yann Kermorgant of late. So the likelihood of the latest team keeping their places for the next game is quite high now. That could mean that Simon Francis has the captain's armband for some time if Sylvain Distin continues to start instead of Tommy Elphick. 

Stoke City will cause different problems to those provided by Sunderland, but the feel good factor is back on the south coast and if the Cherries can start to pick up more points on the road the belief will only get stronger.