The afternoon began dry and dull, but the sun came through later. With Cooper fit again, Baudry returned to the bench. But Symes had not recovered, so Ings and Dalla Valle formed the shortest central front pair since Cooke & Keane at Coventry in the late 80’s – and with a combined age less than that of the assistant manager. Full house – lots of noise. Both teams, thankfully, wore their home strips (as it should be), so one wonders why today’s opponents (cerise diagonal on white) hadn’t tied up a sponsorship with Red Stripe.
Sashes k.o.’d towards the North Stand, but gave away throws and a free so Pugh let Wiggins cross for Hollands to volley wide. Dalla Valle received a throw – should the push have been a penalty? But the ball bounced back to him off a defender so he turned & volleyed across the keeper & inside the far post. 1-0, 6 – real class. Yesssss!!!!! Oh Wow!!! Sashes called for the ref. to consult his assistant, who’d flagged – but (from the TV replays) Dalla Valle was not in an offside position the last time the ball was played (the throw) by a colleague, and although in an offside position when he received it again it was off the defender thus no offside. “The South Coast is ours…” – why has Sloop John Boscombe become popular recently? No matter; Boscombe led!
A free to Sashes led to a corner & Jaidi headed over when scoring seemed odds-on. Bad miss. From our lot to the away fans to our left – to the Tom Hark riff – “Premiership/Championship/League One and you f$%^&d it up”. Then Pearce shepherded the ball to the by-line and Lambert nicked it off him to cross to Barnard, free at the far post with Cooper in no-mans-land (or more likely Fritham). The header was down; Jalal dropped on it but the ball squirmed under his body and over the line. 1-1, 11. Bad mistakes by the captain & keeper; more so the former.
But home pressing and passing kept Sashes at bay; Boscombe looked the better side with Dalla Valle linking well – head up, looking for colleagues, passing sharply and accurately. Sashes just lumped balls out of defence, or forward from midfield – very disappointing. “One Harry Redknapp…” from the home fans, followed by the 4th home corner. Then Wiggins received a yellow for felling the kid winger – who didn’t contribute too much all game. But Wiggins went down a 2nd time, with Cummings replacing him on 33. Bit by bit, Sashes gained the upper hand, but Hollands put in a header and Dalla Valle was so near to connecting with a header close in. Cooper took a yellow for kicking the ball into Barnard’s back. All square at the break, with Boscombe shading it. HT: 1-1
Boscombe imposed early pressure, and the sides exchanged corners. The Sashes centre-backs were not comfortable with Ings and Dalla Valle; Jaidi appeared to man-handle Ings on the by-line but no penalty awarded. Sashes upped the tempo and passed more, with Chaplow supporting his strikers. Coming up to the hour mark, your correspondent gained the sense that the home side was having to play at its peak just to live with the opponents and stay in the game. Feeney and Pugh had swapped wings; Hollands was yellowed for a foul or push. The free from inside-right went right through the defence; Cummings’s attention turned towards the melee instead of keeping it on the by now effectively unmarked Hammond who stretched out a foot to send the ball back across the wrong-footed Jalal and inside the far post. 1-2, 71. In response, Loudmouth behind us tells us to get behind our team. Fletcher replaced Ings on 74 – inevitable – to go 4-3-3. But: if Molesley was fit enough for the bench, surely he was fit enough for 20 minutes, providing different runs and angles?
Lallana tripped over himself at inside-left, 20-odd yards out; yet again, Lambert’s free was poor, dribbling outside the far post. Sashes put on subs to close it up; Pugh & Feeney swapped back again. Lallana was very impressive down in front of us, keeping the ball and showing lots of skill and strength. But Boscombe still showed good football sensibilities; Smith dinked a through ball for Robinson to run on at inside-right and send in a dipper that Davis just somehow tipped onto the bar. To great applause, Dalla Valle came off at 84, replaced by Partington – again, why not Molesley? Pearce had a yellow just outside the area; for the free, Lambert at inside-right hit a rocket; 1-3, 88. Can’t argue with that. Loudie behind us tries even harder to have us support our team vocally, but… From the away fans (Tom Hark again): “One-nil and you f$%^&d it up”.
The ball is cleared from the Sashes area, the 27 galumphs forward and raised boots send Cooper into an impressive pastiche of Tom Daley with triple tuck and pike. Straight red; no argument from anyone. Robinson hit one at the keeper; then the ball deflected through to Feeney who had an easy shot but pulled it wide badly. Partington crossed too long; symptomatic, as Cherries were just not good enough overall. FT: 1-3
This felt how bringing up a hairball must be like; horrible, and in a sense relieved once it’s over. So let’s indulge in some What-Ifs. Jaidi should have scored with that header from his side’s first corner; the cross for the equaliser should have been prevented as should the next goal, but no argument with the 3rd. So that’s 2 for the opponents. Added to Dalla Valle’s super strike, Robinson’s shot would have gone in nearly every other time, & Feeney would normally have put it away at the end, so that’s a plausible 3-2. But we have to face reality. I wrote the following during my pre-match meal (pie, mash, beans and gravy, since you ask): “This reporter back in August fingered Albion, Posh, Terriers and the St. Mary’s mob as tips for the top; most of us could barely hope Boscombe would be in the mix with them at this stage. So all praise to Bradbury and Fletcher (apart from the dodgy substitution regime at Exeter) and their predecessors, and Mitchell, for bringing this club so far so soon.” The club can afford a full-size squad now, but not yet the strength in depth. No reason – not now – for any home fan to have another attack of hubris. And to the Sashes fans – how come it took 34 games to go above those little Dorset cousins? Not much cause for hubris there, either, especially as Sashes went up just one place to 4th, and ascend to only 3rd of the 4 South Coast clubs, after Pompey and Albion. It seems to this reporter that the Hampshire club is doing what’s necessary for promotion; it ain’t pretty, but effective, and I presume Sashes will be 2nd to Albion after 46 games. Orient would knock Boscombe out of the play-off zone if (at the time of writing) games in hand are won.
As Gordon B. said on the way out, perhaps only Pearce might make the Sashes side – although I’d suggest Smith & Wiggins are better attacking backs than their oppos in this game. Indeed, in the 2nd half, Sashes replaced the left-back with someone rather more competent. The same score as 51 years ago (next month).
Oh – and has anyone ever seen Cummings in the same room as Prince Andrew? Thought not.
Mistakes by individuals rules them out; midfield being over-run in spite of big shifts makes them also-rans; the touches of class that make the difference here came from Dalla Valle.
AFCB: Jalal, Smith, Pearce, Cooper, Wiggins, Feeney, Hollands, Robinson, Pugh, Ings, Dalla Valle
Subs: Thomas, Purches, Baudry, Molesley, Cummings (for Wiggins, 33 mins), Fletcher (for Ings, 74 mins), Partington (for Dalla Valle, 84 mins)
Peter Wicks, Bulford