A trip to Layer Road is never the most appealing of away days and this afternoon proved to be no different. The Cherries lined up with five at the back in an attempt to counter the physical approach that we could expect to face, but once again Sean was forced to rely on the younger members of his squad. This was always going to be a real test and so it proved. The first quarter of the match was largely forgettable, with neither side seemingly able to string together more that three passes, with the only real efforts being a speculative shot from Steve Foley that flew wide and a rasping drive from Marcus Browning that drew a fine fingertip save from the keeper, and for Colchester a single effort to which Gareth Stewart had to react sharply.
Just when I was beginning to wonder what I had let myself in for when I volunteered to pen this report, struggling to remember anything that even remotely resembled excitement, however, the game sprang to life. For possibly the first time all afternoon the Cherries played the ball forward to feet, rather than merely lumping it forward looking for "big" James Hayter. James received the ball just outside the area and as he bore down on the keeper, Davison dived at his feet. I have to confess, albeit with possibly a bit of bias, that my first reaction was to claim a penalty as James went sprawling under the challenge, and the referee, as well positioned as he was, was undecided. After a look across to his assistant, however, he awarded a penalty. Cue massed confrontation with both the referee and the assistant surrounded that resulted in Halford being booked for dissent. The protests worked, though, as the referee went over to the linesman who somehow managed to overrule himself. Player power? Fan power from the "massed ranks" right behind him? Or simply an honest mistake? We shall never know, but suffice to say that in all my years watching the beautiful game I think that I can possibly count similar situations on the fingers of one hand and then have an embarrassing number left over.
If this little moment of excitement was going to prove to be the catalyst to finally get the game going we were to be sadly mistaken as the rest of the half descended into oblivion, with play broken up far too often and inconsistently by the loud staccato blast of the referee's whistle.
Half time came as a relief from the relative tedium, but we could not even win the kid's five a side match that was laid on. It did not help, though, when the referee allowed the game to continue following a fine save from the Bournemouth keeper who was pole axed for his sins and clearly unable to carry on. Where do the referee's come from? Was this a job lot? We may have lost this game four nil, but at least we had the chance to see some goal mouth action.
HT: 0-0
The second half could not really be as bad as the first could it? With James O'Connor marauding down the right flank there was the opportunity that we might sneak something, but for all his energy and enthusiasm by and large the final ball into the box was left wanting. Perhaps if Steve Fletcher or Dani had been in the box and been able to use their height and strength we might have had more joy.
Colchester were no better, with their main, possibly only, threat being Halford's long throws that regularly found their way deep into the penalty area. For all the possession that the home side had, the end product was to prove disappointing and Gareth actually had one of his easier afternoon's, with Josh Gowling, Shaun Cooper and Neil Young soaking up everything that came through the middle. At the other end our own attempts were similarly impotent. Possibly the best chance that we had was when Andy Surman was fouled in Stocky territory, but his free kick was always drifting past the near post.
Sean rang the changes with Stephen Cooke coming on for Andy Surman (75), and a double substitution in the 89th minute with Shaun Maher for Steve Foley and James Keane for James Hayter and, somewhat bizarrely, with just one minute of normal time remaining, both sides had their best chance of the whole game. Firstly Iwelumo, falling away from the goal, managed to angle a header that came back off the post. Then, almost from the resulting goal kick, with the game into the second of the three minutes that the referee was adding, Bournemouth went down the pitch and with the ball fizzing around in the Colchester area, James managed to get the final touch that would prove to send the visitors home with maximum points and their fans with a smile on their collective faces. A scrappy goal to decide a scrappy game.
This was never a pretty game and not certainly one for the purists, but there were definitely a number of plus points. Sean had once again to rely on his youngsters, all of whom coped admirably with the test. No red cards (a second visit running to Layer Road), and three points (the first time in a long while in this corner of Essex). But perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the performance was the discipline that the side showed as they kept their shape and refused to be rattled by anything that Colchester could throw at them. I cannot remember a single occasion during the whole game that anyone was obviously caught out of position, or saw fit to question the officials (and believe me, there were plenty of opportunities). Bournemouth played within themselves and nullified any threat that Colchester could pose for them. If they can continue to play like this and grind out a few results as they get some of their more experienced long term casualties back fit, then the Cherries will certainly be there among the play off contenders come the end of the season.
This is actually a difficult one to call this week. Although not the most inspiring of games with no one really standing out, I am going to give it to Brian Stock. A mature, unfussy and disciplined performance from him that saw him make a number of telling challenges and invariably saw him make good use of the ball.
AFCB: Stewart, Hart, O'Connor, Gowling, Young, Foley, Stock, Cooper, Browning, Hayter
Subs: Maher (on for Foley, 89), Cooke (on for Surman, 75), Rodrigues, Keene (on for Hayter, 89), Pitman