In truth, the first half was appalling, possibly the worst forty five minutes that I have ever witnessed. The game was constantly punctuated by the loud blast of the punctilious referee's whistle that did nothing for the flow of the game. There was barely a foul worthy of the award of a free kick, but unfortunately Mr Friend had other ideas. Colchester were their usual physically robust selves and, to be honest, went down far too easily under the slightest of challenges.
The quality of Bournemouth's defending, at times, left a lot to be desired and during the first period we constantly made life difficult for ourselves as time and again we conceded possession in dangerous areas of the pitch or simply played long balls that proved to be meat and drink for the Colchester back four.
For all Colchester's possession and territorial advantage, however, few clear cut chances were made, with Neil Moss only really being forced into two saves, one of "don't rub 'em, count 'em" variety, with possibly their best chance falling to Brian Stock who somehow found the stanchion behind the goal when it was easier to put the ball into Layer Road itself (where a number of balls did end up). For Bournemouth's part, Dean Gerken's goal was only tested with a free kick from Stocky.
After thirty five minutes Sean had seen enough and Wade and Garreth switched back to their normal positions and at last we had a little more in the way of shape. The whistle for the end of the first half could not really come soon enough and, with any luck, the referee would not be able to find a new pea for it having clearly worn a hole in the one that he had been using. Things, surely, could only get better.
HT: 0-0
The second half began pretty much as the first half had ended, but within three minutes and with the ball fizzing around the Colchester penalty area without anyone from either side taking responsibility, Warren Cummings came forward and tried a volley from just outside the box that took a nick on the way into the roof of the net.
Surely, now, the game would come alight. Any match needs a goal to get the best out of both sets of players and this one was no exception as all twenty two of them realised that there is a game on. There was suddenly a purposeful ebb and flow about it.
As Bournemouth pushed for a killer second goal, Colchester broke down field and won a corner. As the ball came over and with no-one on the far post, Gavin Johnson rose and flighted a looping header into the unprotected corner for the equaliser in the fifty fourth minute.
With the game now finely balanced, there was an edge to it and the chances began to come at both ends. Bournemouth for their part continued to mix mental aberrations at the back with their trade mark neat passing moves, but all too often they took a pass too many and the opportunity went begging.
By now, Garreth and Wade were back on their favoured wings, with both enjoying a degree of success against their respective markers, but still the crucial chance would not come. The best of the few clear cut openings fell to Jamie Hayter whose looping header came back off the cross bar.
With the way that the defence was playing itself into trouble most of the evening there was always the chance that Colchester would hit us with the sucker punch on the break, and so it proved. Shaun Maher committed what appeared to be an innocuous foul just outside the area after eighty two minutes, and Neil Moss was not able to hold the resulting free kick. Ndumbu-Nsungu was the first to react and prodded the rebound home from short distance.
Almost from the kick off Bournemouth were caught again as Neil Danns picked up the ball midway inside the Bournemouth half and moved unchallenged towards the goal and fired an unstoppable shot to Neil's right for the goal of the night.
Sean then threw caution to the wind and brought on Marcus Browning, Dani Rodrigues and Alan Connell for Stock, Purches and Hayter, but why leave changes until the last five minutes when it was obvious that things were not working as smoothly as they should do for much of this poor encounter?
To be honest, the final whistle could not really come soon enough and for the those travelling back to the south coast it must have been a very long journey indeed. At least this year, for the first time in four attempts, we managed to keep all eleven players on the pitch for the whole game.
AFCB: Moss, Purches (Rodrigues 89), Cummings, Maher, Howe, Stock (Connell 89), Spicer, O'Connor, Elliott, Fletcher, Hayter (Browning 88).
Subs not used: Stewart, Holmes.
Dave Linsay, Colchester