Against a backdrop of rolling green hills and greyish clouds, the match kicked off with an unchanged AFCB side relying on Wade Elliot to make a couple of early forays into the Macclesfield box. During these early stages, however, it soon became apparent that, despite some promising link-up play, especially between Danny Thomas and Stephen Purches, neither team had much to offer in terms of unlocking each other’s defence. Steve Hitchen, number 2 for the Silkmen (who, according to the matchday programme, would most like to meet Jade from Big Brother), exploited space on the right to create most of Macc’s attacks, albeit with little effect as AFCB’s defence held firm. What was turning into an uneventful first-half, with Holmes caught offside, Connell heading wide from Thomas’ cross, Tipton lacking a killer touch and Hardy dribbling uncontrollably, sparked into life in the 40th minute when the Cherries rather fortuitously took the lead courtesy of a goal assist from the referee, Michael Ryan. Bournemouth pressed forward and from the resulting corner the Macc keeper tipped the ball over the bar to prevent one of his defenders from scoring an own-goal. The next corner was played out to Thomas, whose cross hit the man in black and took a nasty deflection goalbound. Connell was on hand to claim his first senior goal by nodding the ball home past the advancing keeper and send the 150 or so hardy souls on the open terrace into ecstasy. The Silkmen were understandably aggrieved and had Tinson, their captain, booked for complaining to the linesman.
A Macclesfield double substitution at half-time almost paid dividends shortly after the break as Macc attacked and, following a mad goalmouth scramble, missed the chance to equalise when it looked easier to score. Desperate defending and inspirational form by Ashdown, who pulled off a couple of miraculous point-blank saves to keep our slender lead intact. Those chances spurned seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Silkmen and AFCB started to take control of proceedings, particularly after Hayter replaced a hobbling Holmes in the 53rd minute. Hayter and Connell were combining well up front and posed a constant threat as, in the words of the Exiles Travel Officer, they ‘ghosted with pace’ at the unsuspecting home defence. Both of them had chances to score with only the keeper to beat but shot straight at him. O’Connor, on for Thomas after 67 minutes, could have extended AFCB’s lead but sportingly chose to shoot wide. Tipton and Welsh did their best to score late on in the game but couldn’t hit the target. Maher’s introduction with 8 minutes to go kept things tight at the back and ensured that the Cherries went home with their first away win for 300 days. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait so long for our next victory on foreign soil.
To sum up, even stevens until we got our lucky break and scored. An impressive AFCB performance thereafter with the Cherries opting to take advantage of Connell’s hunger and Hayter’s mobility and not sit back on their lead. An unusually solid defence, good work in midfield, enterprising play up front and a positive attitude to the game should help Messrs O’Driscoll and Grant survive the dreaded vote of confidence.
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AFCB: Ashdown, Tindall, Broadhurst, Young, Purches, Elliott, Thomas, Connell, Browning, C Fletcher, Holmes
Subs: Tardiff, Hayter (for Holmes on 53 mins), O'Connor (for Thomas on 67), Maher (for Connell on 82), Stock.
Jon Blake, London