A lively start to say the least – from both sides, but it was (to be fair) Southampton who had more of the early play at St Mary's as the locals tried to atone to the weekend's defeat against Plymouth Argyle – so much for walking League One!
Having weathered the early storm, the Cherries began to assert themselves more and came more in to the game as it soon became evident that the didn't have the guile to get past Pearce/Garry, even when they did, Purches/Wiggins/Jalal were more than capable to dealing with any threat.
A Feeney effort seemed to go pretty close, but how close was impossible to tell from our vantage point, but was showing the locals that the Cherries were beginning to enjoy themselves and were NOT there merely to make up the numbers in this local derby – as the local supporters had assumed in their typical arrogance – bless!
As the Cherries had the confidence to press more, it was evident how much more Wiggins and Pugh were getting more involved, asking more than a just a few questions of the Southampton right hand side. Sadly the service in to the centre was not so clever.
A moment of controversy came when Hammond seemed to stamp on Bartley, only a yellow card produced.
The Cherries won a free kick on the edge of the area in the 35 th – perfect Pitman territory. Sadly the effort went narrowly wide and out for a corner, which came to nothing. A Cherries break moments later saw an effort go flashing in front of the goal from Pitman in the 38th minute.
On the stroke of half time, Feeney tried breaking forward, managed to find Pugh on the other side of the pitch who in turn managed to cannon the ball off the cross bar as the Cherries were beginning to assert themselves right at the end of the half.
HT: 0-0
Unlike the opening period of the first half where our hosts came at us like a bull in a china shop, the start of the second period was far more even. The first clear cut chance fell to Southampton who saw an effort cleared off the line by Pugh which was quickly followed by an effort clear the cross bar.
A Cherries break, inspired by Pugh and some neat footwork, broke to Pitman, who was quickly closed down to prevent a clear sight of goal.
Cherries hearts were broken in the 63 rd minute when Lallana picked the ball on the left hand side, cut inside to produce a wonder strike to send our hosts one-up.
In the 82nd minute Pitman was presented with an excellent opportunity to equalise, on to see Davies in the Saints goal produce a superb one handed save to push the ball away to safety.
The nail in the Cherries coffin came with just 4 minutes left when Chamberlain managed to round the out-rushing Jalal to fire home in to an empty net.
Okay we lost local bragging rights this evening, but in my humble opinion, the Cherries were far from disgraced. The management team at Dean Court will be heartened with the overall performance if not the result.
My man of the match was Marc Pugh who had a great individual performance throughout the game.
AFCB: Jalal, Purches, Garry, Pearce, Wiggins, Cooper, Feeney, Robinson, Bartley, Pugh, Pitman
Subs: Thomas, Cummings, McQuoid, Arter, Hollands (for Cooper, 58 mins), Symes (for Bartley, 65 mins), Bradbury (for Garry, 75 mins)
Andy Burton, Portsmouth