April 13 AFC Bournemouth 2-1 Hereford United Att: 6128

Last updated : 17 April 2010 By Nick Wallinger

Still 6pts clear of the Play-off positions and 5 games remaining, 3 at home, surely we must be safe to dream, but hey this is the Cherries!

It was a big crowd for a big night with big dreams, dare we fail? Well almost from the off Hereford took the game to the Cherries rocking them back early on. Within the opening 5 minutes Shawn was called upon to make two regulation saves, but nevertheless Hereford were playing high up the pitch and creating openings. The Cherries eventually responded and picked up the pace with a Pitman header in the box that landed on the roof the goal. Danny threatened with the next move and won a corner, which saw Rhoys trying to be inventive and the ball ending back in our half! Brett had a chance to stretch his legs on the quarter hour mark when he latched onto a Hereford corner in his own box and ran the length of the pitch before being felled, expertly, on the edge of the Hereford box. The sides then traded possession and identical placed free kicks at either end soon followed with the same result, both walls standing up to scrutiny.

The talking point came on 30 minutes when Danny was felled in the opposition box. From our vantage point it looked innocuous but with the referee seeing it differently, he pointed to the spot from where Brett coolly hammered home the ball to the delight of the Dean Court faithful. Whilst watching the goal and its celebration something had occurred on the halfway line that resulted in Marvin receiving a yellow card and Tindall being very vocal with the 4th official.

One up and the Cherries picked up the pace with Feeney showing off his speed and Hereford were noticeably falling back. Anton Robinson latched on to a ball on the right and flashed a shot across the face of goal. Pitman made an excellent cross field pass that found Feeney on the left and his shot to the top right hand corner was inches over. Fletch and Feeney linked up to release Pitman for a first time shot straight at the keeper. We were looking comfortable and the crowd excited, but then on the cusp of half time Hereford found space and Leon Constantine let go a rasper of a shot that smacked the right post, almost snapping it in two!

Sammy Igoe was introduced for the second half, replacing Alan Connell, and the Cherries picked up from they left off. Some nice touches and delightful balls being played around in the middle third but ultimately was just lacking in the last third of the pitch. Pitman had one nice shot, on the spin, saved by the Hereford keeper. Then the game seemed to get a little scrappy and was becoming a slightly disjointed affair. Hereford were inching forward but were never a serious threat. On the 75 minute mark Hereford were in possession on the half way line when a pass back towards the central defender in the middle of their half was intercepted by Brett who, having gained the element of surprise ran forward one on one with the keeper. Successfully rounding him and finishing with fair aplomb the Cherries were 2 up, in delirium and singing League 1 here we come!

Jeff Goulding came on for the work horse Fletch and created a chance for Brett to score his hat trick as time was running down only for his shot to go wide of the target. Wazza came on for a cameo, replacing Feeney, as 3 minutes was flashed for additional time. With the last move of the game, Hereford beat whatever offside trap the Cherries were playing and Marc Pugh collected the ball, coolly passed the on rushing Jalal in the middle of the park and dispatched a calmly slotted pass into the middle of an open goal. Immediately from the kick-off the ref blew the final whistle and victory assured.

Of the chasing pack only Rotherham matched our result so the comfort cushion remains 6pts and a goal difference in our favour and now just 4 games remaining. What is more interesting is Rochdale’s recent slump that has seen us close on them, a little, in 2nd place. Let us see if we can sew this promotion up before the end of April!

Man Of The MatchMOTM - majority decision of the Exiles jury was Danny Hollands (although I thought Marvin had a good game to!)

AFCB: Jalal, Bradbury, Bartley, Pearce, Wiggins, Feeney, Hollands, Robinson, Connell, Fletcher, Pitman
Subs: Thomas, Guyett, McQuoid, Partington, Igoe (for Connell, HT), Goulding (for Fletcher, 83 mins), Cummings (for Feeney, 91 mins)
Nick Wallinger, Ickenham