Feb 22 AFC Bournemouth 3-0 Torquay United Att: 5887

Gulls kicked off towards north stand. We had the better the opening with Fletcher going close on 7 minutes, heading over after beating his marker to the ball from a clever Stock cross. Moments later, Garreth O'Connor went on a jinking run which saw a last ditch tackle on the 6 yard box stop him from shooting.

A rare Constantine effort for the Gulls saw his shot drift wide, then a Hayter shot was pushed away by Barnes in the Gulls’ goal after Hayter had shrugged off a Robinson challenge. We then saw the first of many penalty appeals when Spicer’s flick struck Villis before Garreth O’Connor fired wide of the left upright after Hayter had cut it back.

Garreth again was in the thick of it after a poor Villis clearance was picked up by Spicer who fed him the ball on the left, a neat step inside but his shot was deflected for a corner. Stock’s corner went out to Cummings who let loose with a screamer from about 30 yards out only to see Woodman block it on the line. Penalty surely – he used his hand to stop it – not given, but the loose ball fell to Maher to fire home from close range on 29 minutes. 1-0.

Garreth O'Connor again caused the Gulls defence problems when he cut in from the left to see his deflected shot tipped over by Barnes. We then had another penalty claim turned down near the end of the half, when the ball bounced up and clearly struck Canoville on the hand, but referee Hegley was unsighted. The very one-sided half in which we should have seen our first penalty for 13 months drew to a close.

HT: 1-0

We kicked off the second half and were soon in control again, and on 48 minutes a Fletcher flick-on appeared to hit McGlinchey’s hand. The ref again did not see, but the assistant Mackerell had spotted it and flagged, PENALTY at last! Up stepped Garreth to place the ball to Barnes’ right - no chance. 2-nil and that was Garreth's sixth goal in six games.

We then began to sit back which made a poor Gulls team look good, and they had a few chances which were dealt with. Hayter then broke through to be hauled down by Robinson who was booked. It could have been red, but there was a covering defender. Stock’s free kick was deflected wide. Gulls then had their closest effort when Constantine’s 20 yard volley smashed against the crossbar. Then McGlinchey who had already been booked should have seen red with an ugly late challenge on Mills but was only warned by the referee. Stock was also booked for a nothing challenge and was soon replaced by Browning on 82 minutes.

Then on 84 minutes we made it safe when a great cross from Wade saw Fletcher head home for his 100th career goal, only six more for a 100 for AFCB.

On 88 minutes Connell came on for Wade and Rodriguez for Hayter, and the Gulls changed Pulis for Russell and Hockley for McGlinchey. 3 minutes of added time saw it end 3-0.

A good all-round display, although maybe we should not have sat back after the second goal.

MOM is a hard one to call, Hayter never gave up, Cummings broke well, Stock and Spicer did well, Wade made some good breaks, Maher was solid, Moss did was he had to, James O'Connor did really well. It could go to Garreth O'Connor who was outstanding, but it goes to
Matthew Mills who stepped into Eddie's boots and played as if he had been there all season.

AFCB: Moss, J O'Connor, Mills, Maher, Cummings, Elliott (Rodrigues 86), Spicer, G O'Connor, Stock (Browning 81), Hayter (Connell 86), Fletcher.
Subs not used: Stewart, Holmes.