It was only just over two and a half years since our last visit to the Teesside Riviera when an AFCB side featuring the likes of Shwan Jalal, Richard Hughes, Josh McQuoid and Dan Seaborne secured a hard-fought victory on their march towards the higher echelons of English football against a Pools side heading in the opposite direction.
As expected, those who performed so admirably at Liverpool and West Ham were rested with Bournemouth fielding a mostly second string side against their old foes from Victoria Park. The match kicked off with £8 million record signing Tyrone Mings (kept out of the first team by the excellent form of Charlie Daniels), former Reading keeper Adam Federici, 37 year old Premier League veteran Sylvain Distin and Chelsea loanee Christian Atsu making their debuts in such exalted surrounds.
Despite having much bigger fish to fry, Eddie and Jason were keen for AFCB to do well in the League Cup. As last season’s record-breaking run to the quarter-finals proved, it can give new recruits and fringe players a chance to shine and build confidence and momentum that can rub off on our league form.
It was not long before AFCB showed their strength in depth when Christian Atsu cut inside from the right, skipped past a couple of defenders and unleashed a fierce shot that thumped against the bar. Bournemouth soon took control and passed the ball around with panache although their final ball would often go astray.
Once Bournemouth’s forward line were on the same wavelength, the inevitable onslaught began with Pools keeper Adam Bartlett doing well to keep out a shot from Junior Stanislas after 26 minutes. The Cherries took the lead four minutes later when Dan Gosling and Junior Stanislas opened up the Pools defence to allow Yann Kermorgant to stroll in and stroke the ball past Bartlett from eight yards. ‘That’s why we’re Premier League’ sang the Cherries faithful.
Bournemouth went further ahead shortly afterwards when Tyrone Mings, Junior Stanislas and Lee Tomlin combined really well to set up Dan Gosling who collected the ball just outside the box and fired a fierce shot low to Bartlett’s right to score his sixth League Cup goal in as many appearances for the Cherries. ‘Same old Bournemouth, taking the piss’ and ‘You’re League 2 ‘til you die’ taunted the away fans behind the goal. The home fans in the Niramax Stand reciprocated with a spot of terrace banter aimed at any Bournemouth player bold enough to venture near them. It’s a good job nobody could understand their accents.
A few minutes after Christian Atsu forced Bartlett to make an impressive save, the Cherries scored another just before the interval. Bournemouth won a free-kick just outside the penalty area which Junior Stanislas curled superbly into Bartlett’s top right corner. HT 0-3.
Game over with Hartlepool being completely outclassed against a vastly superior Cherries side. Something I was not used to seeing for most of my previous visits to Victoria Park. Much of the conversation at half-time was about Cherries transfer target Lewis Grabban going AWOL after being put on the bench for Norwich’s cup tie at Rotherham. Throwing a tantrum to force a move to another club seems to be all the rage these days. Not sure I would like to take on Alex Neil, though. Normal service was swiftly resumed after the break with Bournemouth going close on a number of occasions.
Lee Tomlin shot straight at the keeper after being fed by Kermorgant. Stanislas clipped the outside of the post then Tomlin shot narrowly wide. A fourth goal soon arrived when Atsu’s clever pass found Junior Stanislas who rounded the keeper to score with ease. ‘Stelling, Stelling, what’s the score?’ Tokelo Rantie was brought on for Kermorgant and soon had the ball in the net after being sent clear and rounding the keeper but was harshly flagged for offside.
Bournemouth took their foot off the gas for the last quarter of an hour which gave Pools the chance to grab a consolation. Brad Walker’s free-kick was tipped over by Federici before former AFCB trialist Rakish Bingham, who scored for the Cherries in a friendly against FC Copenhagen just over a year ago, missed two decent chances late on.
Referee Carl Boyeson eventually blows up to signal the end of Bournemouth’s footballing masterclass and put Pools out of their misery. A thoroughly professional performance at one of English football’s less glamorous outposts with Eddie given the type of selection headache that most football managers dream of. Next stop Deepdale.
Man of the Match: Junior Stanislas – two goals, one assist and at the heart of Bournemouth’s best moves.
Bournemouth: Federici, Smith (Butcher, 77), Distin, Cargill, Mings, Atsu (Ritchie, 77), Gosling, MacDonald, Stanislas, Tomlin, Kermorgant (Rantie, 64)
Jon Blake, South Shields