Sept 13 AFC Bournemouth 0-1 Macclesfield Att: 3922

We got off to the worst possible start when the entire defence was slow to react to a speculative ball down the left side, allowing Evans to sprint through, collect the ball, take it into the box and beat Jalal, all without anyone getting near enough to make a challenge. That was in the second minute, and shortly afterwards Evans' eventful match was over when he challenged for a header with Anderton and was sent off for leading with his elbow after a bout of handbags between the two sides.

This probably didn't affect the visitor's game plan too much, other than leaving them one fewer player with which to pack the midfield. Bournemouth dominated possession and territory for the rest of the game, but we lacked invention (not to mention any semblance pace up front with the less than dynamic pairing of Bradbury and Pitman) and were too often reduced to passing the ball around in front of the massed ranks of defenders before shooting from distance, invariably straight at the keeper. It's difficult to think of any chances created inside the box in the first half, unless you want to include a couple of optimistic attempts blazed over by Pitman from a narrow angle when he would have been better advised to pass. Wagstaff and Cummings weren't used often enough to exploit our numerical advantage by pulling defenders wide, which meant that Bartley's admirably persistent forward runs were usually thwarted by sheer weight of numbers in the congested centre.

Half time should have given us the opportunity to rethink our approach, but if anything we got worse, ultimately losing confidence in our passing game and resorting increasingly to route one stuff which gave the Macclesfield defenders few problems. The lanky Goulding was brought on with half an hour to go, which certainly improved the mobility of the forward line, although it seemed strange that the player he replaced was Wagstaff, by far the likeliest member of the team to provide a decent cross. He had one header saved, and Anderton produced our best shot of the game, a low drive from twenty yards that the keeper pushed round for a corner, a meagre return from so much possession. Quinn can be under few illusions now about the size of the task at hand.

Nothing summed up this performance more aptly than a shambolic attempt at an indirect free kick after the keeper handled a back pass. The set piece was so poorly executed by Pitman that a defender easily beat Anderton to the ball and we failed to even register a shot. Pitman's eventual replacement by McQuoid produced one of the loudest cheers of the game. At the final whistle the players left the pitch to a deserved chorus of "What a load of rubbish".

So we lost to one of the worst teams in the division despite having a man advantage for most of the game - but it's good to draw some positives from every situation, so I should at least point out that it was a nice sunny afternoon. 

Marvin Bartley: dominated the first half with an all-action performance, and if he faded in the second half it was understandable when you're expected to provide the missing pace in attack and do the bulk of the work harrying the opposition.


AFCB: Jalal, Cummings, Pearce, Cooper, Ward, Bartley, Hollands, Anderton, Wagstaff, Pitman, Bradbury
Subs: Pryce, Guyett, Goulding (for Wagstaff, 62 mins), McQuoid (for Pitman, 72 mins), Lindfield (for Bartley, 81 mins)

Richard Barker, Leyton