The Addicks board backed Powell in the summer, and since; the results speak for themselves. The Boscombe board backed Bradbury first with loan signings – that took us back up the table – and with money to buy them and others, except that it’s turned sour since. Added to that the off-field nonsense last Saturday, with the Russian co-owner’s wife taken into the dressing-room at the wrong time (if at all, before the pre-match talk, but preferably not at all) then the disgraceful on-air performance from the chairman; what would the team make of all that? It all made its way into a big article in the Observer sports section on Sunday 4th – embarrassing.
Before KO I had the privilege of looking through an original of the Boscombe-Spurs FA Cup programme from 1957 – at a time when I didn’t even know where Bournemouth was.
Cook was fit so Zubar dropped to the bench with Tubbs (the latter sensible). Stockley again on the bench – good. Big away section; big crowd (biggest home crowd of season). Addicks KO towards the North Stand. Fogden played wide right to annoy Wiggins (good; the latter was booed at every touch but Hollands had a superb reception); McDermott played central behind Thomas (about time!). Sunny and breezy. Addicks looked organised; Boscombe looked to be sharp and to play. Early on, Boscombe looked better than both Addicks and last week. Daniels’s free saw Addison head back and a corner conceded after a good home move. The home side always looked to release Malone. MacDonald played well in the right-back area and it led to Fogden putting over a poor cross. Francis (often booed to some extent by the away fans) was poor in defence soon after but Addison – a little quicker than he seems - cleared up well with a good tackle. Malone definitely up for it; fed by McDermott, he put in a low cross to find Thomas beyond the far post who belted it against the angle.
Wright-Phillips was put in at inside-left but Flahavan saved well low down. This was the best Boscombe had played for 5-6 weeks, until Malone put in a poor cross instead of feeding Daniels who’d gone outside him. Through the match Daniels made such decoy runs and perhaps Malone should’ve fed him more. The extra man in midfield allowed pressing of Addicks in that area, but meant no support for Thomas; whichever side the ball was on, the wide man (Fogden; Malone) on the other side should’ve been coming in to help Thomas but that rarely happened in the game. MacDonald supported his back 4 well, picking up and instigating. He & Arter were closer together (because McDermott was nearer) thus supported each other better and as a result both had better games. McDermott kept spinning off his oppo (usually Hollands) and going forward, all game – a joy.
Another good Malone run led to MacDonald driving over the bar from 20 yards. Malone won another corner; it came back & he hit it over. Addicks were rattled – the temerity of the home side! McDermott was revelling in it; his best this season. Then Addicks had 3 corners in a row, the last of which saw McDermott coming out superbly, releasing Malone who went inside before Fogden at inside-left chose to go left instead of sending it out right, and lost the ball. H-T: 0-0
Soon after the restart, Daniels was careless but Wright-Phillips took a poor option. Then Daniels fouled; the resultant shot was blocked. Thomas went on the left; in, out, in, but the cross-shot went over. Cook was so steady, but there was not too much service to the away forwards. A wonderful home move saw the ball go over to the far post, back in, seemingly an open goal but the shot was scuffed and blocked. The one deficiency in the home strategy was that no midfielder ever went through ahead of Thomas. That might’ve been McDermott but he started his runs 10-20 yards too far back (that’s an observation, not a criticism) to be the runner in that sense. Even Arter was strong against Hollands. Perhaps what led to no goals so far was, for both sides, too often a poor late pass or wrong option.
Malone fed McDermott whose shot was blocked and he beat the ground in frustration. Francis put in a near-post cross; Thomas headed wide. The whole midfield scrapped for the ball all game and won it more often than not. Another home corner saw Cook volley over; the away defence blocked all other options so fair play to them. Francis looked pretty good in attack and defence. The Addicks keeper had to be replaced after sustaining a leg injury. Addison made an excellent header to clear a cross, and a shot was deflected over the bar with Flahavan on the ground, as Addicks came more into the game.
Fogden chased everything that moved – even sweet wrappers, it seemed – but ultimately no delivery. Another good Malone run led to a corner; Francis crossed and, in the clear, Malone chested it and volleyed over. Addicks seemed to have the luck that goes with a side on top of the league. Daniels was yellowed for yet another ankle-tap. Tubbs replaced Malone on 82, with McDermott going left. Addicks had a corner; I said to John H this was the sucker-punch – but I was ahead of proceedings. Arter did a lovely run at inside-left, cut in and shot right-footed beyond the far post. Man of the Match: sponsors – MacDonald; seats – McDermott. Thomas chipped and Tubbs seemed to flick it over the bar with his head. Arter hit it at the keeper.
Another away corner resulted from Fogden chasing back well. Two flick headers, a toe-poke, the ball was hoofed out in mid-air but the lino waved his flag towards half-way. 0-1, 90+2. Possible evidence for having a taller, more dominant, keeper? Stockley was thrown on for Fogden in a desperate last gesture, but barely had a touch. F-T: 0-1
The bald facts are that Boscombe still needs 7 points for 51 & safety (some say 54, others 53) from 12 games, and now 12th (14th if others’ games in hand are won), 8 off the play-off zone & 11 above the drop zone. Including the off-pitch idiocies last week, perhaps the Russian might reconsider the return on his investment; he could probably afford to pay off Bradbury and purchase Sam Vokes to partner Thomas. Billy Davis, Lee Clark and (please no!) Gary Megson are all now available… and typically Lyle Taylor scored his first for Hereford this day. But, let’s face it, he, Connell and (sorry) Tubbs are really Div.4 standard.
But Boscombe played Addicks off the park for long stretches, the 4-5-1 setup proving effective in that sense. However, Thomas cannot be both target man (which he isn’t anyway) and poacher. Even so, Bradbury had it right most of the way today; play like that and results will come against most teams.
All deserve prizes for effort but McDermott was a revelation so he shall have it.
AFCB: Flahavan, Francis, Cook, Addision, Daniels, Fogden, Arter, MacDonald, Malone, McDermott, Thomas
Subs: Zubar, Cooper, Gregory, Tubbs (for Malone, 82 mins), Stockley (for Fogden, 93 mins)