Before this match I was hoping/expecting that the Cherries were going to get back on track against play-off rivals, sadly it proved to be otherwise. The match started slowly as both sides created half chances in the early stages. After that the match slowed to walking pace, with the crowd going quiet - you could have heard a pin drop around the ground!
Our average looking visitors broke the deadlock just after the half hour mark when a corner was floated in from the left hand side to find Doumbe who had the simplest of chances to poke the ball home in to the roof of the net with the defence static.
The Cherries tried to respond ..... to no avail!
HT: 0-1
Sadly the 2nd half performance from the Cherries, kicking towards the open end, was not much better, but more than demonstrated the complete lack of communication/understanding that exists in the Cherries line up.
There was a supposed pass which three Cherries players left for each other - looking rather bemused at each other for leaving it, allowing Bowditch to race towards the Cherries goal. McDermott managed to avoid fouling Bowditch (which would have resulted in a red card for a professional foul) only to see a Bowditch shot rattle off the cross bar with Flahavan rooted to where he was standing. This one incident more than demonstrated the lack of understanding that is clearly there in the squad.
To sum up our luck at the other end of the pitch Jayden Stockley managed to find Wes Thomas who managed to somehow miss the target from 6-yards out.
By the end of the match the home fans vented their displeasure at a 3rd straight defeat, which leaves the chances of making the play-offs as remote as ever!
Most remarkably, after the match, Cherries Chairman Eddie Mitchell revealed that Maxim Denims wife gave the half time team talk! What ever next!
AFCB: Flahavan, Francis, Addison, Zubar, Daniels, McDermott, Arter, MacDonald, Malone, Tubbs, Thomas
Subs: Thomas, Cooper, Gregory, Fogden (on for McDermott, 65 mins), Stockley (for Tubbs, 71 mins)
Andy Burton, Portsmouth