An Eye on AFCB

05/06 fixture list

2005-06-29T12:34:00.000+01:00

August
Sat 06 15:00 A MK Dons FL1
Tue 09 19:45 H Hartlepool FL1
Sat 13 15:00 H Bristol City FL1
Sat 20 15:00 A Gillingham FL1
Sat 27 15:00 A Bradford City FL1
Mon 29 15:00 H Walsall FL1
September
Sat 03 15:00 H Tranmere FL1
Sat 10 15:00 A Chesterfield FL1
Sat 17 15:00 H Swindon Town FL1
Sat 24 15:00 A Oldham FL1
Tue 27 19:45 H Swansea City FL1
October
Sat 01 15:00 A Huddersfield FL1
Sat 08 15:00 H Doncaster FL1
Sat 15 15:00 A Colchester FL1
Sat 22 15:00 H Port Vale FL1
Sat 29 15:00 A Brentford FL1
November
Sat 12 15:00 H Nottm Forest FL1
Sat 19 15:00 A Doncaster FL1
Sat 26 15:00 H MK Dons FL1
December
Tue 06 19:45 A Blackpool FL1
Sat 10 15:00 A Hartlepool FL1
Sat 17 15:00 H Gillingham FL1
Mon 26 15:00 A Yeovil Town FL1
Wed 28 19:45 H Barnsley FL1
Sat 31 15:00 A Southend FL1
January
Mon 02 15:00 H Scunthorpe FL1
Sat 07 15:00 A Tranmere FL1
Sat 14 15:00 H Rotherham FL1
Sat 21 15:00 A Swindon Town FL1
Sat 28 15:00 H Chesterfield FL1
February
Sat 04 15:00 A Swansea City FL1
Sat 11 15:00 H Oldham FL1
Tue 14 19:45 A Rotherham FL1
Sat 18 15:00 H Blackpool FL1
Sat 25 15:00 A Bristol City FL1
March
Sat 04 15:00 A Walsall FL1
Sat 11 15:00 H Bradford City FL1
Sat 18 15:00 H Yeovil Town FL1
Sat 25 15:00 A Barnsley FL1
April
Sat 01 15:00 H Southend FL1
Sat 08 15:00 A Scunthorpe FL1
Sat 15 15:00 H Huddersfield FL1
Mon 17 15:00 A Port Vale FL1
Sat 22 15:00 H Colchester FL1
Sat 29 15:00 A Nottm Forest FL1
May
Sat 06 15:00 H Brentford FL1

Elliot and O'Connor move on

2005-05-16T19:29:00.000+01:00

Wade Elliot and Garreth O'Connor have both moved to Burnley, and sections of the Bournemouth fans have reacted with precitable hysteria.

Seriously, we must have the most negative fans in the league, as every last incident means we are doomed and we must find someone to blame. In truth, it is not quite as bad as all that. That it happened at the same time was a bit of a shock, but really it's been obvious for a while that O'Connor was going to leave, while Elliot has been treading water for a couple of years. Yes, we'll miss them, but we'll also replace them. We always do; it's the way football works.

In fact this mini-clearout may be exactly what is needed, as it means the team will be fundamentally different next season to the one which failed to be promoted this. It's the perfect opportunity to go three at the back, and introduce a proper ball winner into midfield; or bring in a proper left winger, which we haven't had for who knows how long; or maybe stick Stock out on the right and get him ot play a Beckham style crossing role.

I'm sure that O'Driscoll and co. have plenty of replacements lined up, the available wages may even allow us to bring in more than two players to strengthen the squad further. Who knows?

One thing is for certain it is far too early to write off next season before this one has even ended. Sure, we may face a relegation battle; or we may win the league. Or we might have to settle for mid table obscurity. Whichever way it goes I wouldn't miss it for anything.

AFC Bournemouth 2-2 Hartlepool

2005-05-08T14:32:00.000+01:00

The season comes to an end three games earlier than we had hoped, and in the customary style. For the third time in seven years we miss out on the playoffs by failing to get the result we needed in the last game of the season.

It had all been going rather well for the first 70 minutes, but when the second Pools goal went in the players dropped their heads and ran out of ideas, much as they had been doing during the last five home games when we failed to pick up a point. And that was the real reason we missed out - you can't go on a losing run like that without paying for it in the end.

So where from here?

It's probably best to let the dust settle before specualting too much. Inevitably there are a handful of morons on the Rivals messageboard calling for SOD to go. Yes he can be frustrating, and he certainly should have made his substitutions earlier yesterday, but I truly suspect it won't be until he does leave that people realise exactly what a good job he has done. I hope he stays; although a mini-clear out of some sort could be what is needed.

What is undeniably needed is someone to add a bit of steel to the side. when we look back on the season in the next few weeks the most telling statistic may be not those five home defeats in a row, but but 35 bookings from 46 games. How many times have opposition managers said we play nice football but are too lightweight? This is the one thing we really need to change.

So it all comes down to this

2005-05-05T13:07:00.000+01:00

We always knew that the Hartlepool game would be the crucial one, and
so it is. There's no other games to take into consideration - if we
win, we're through; if we don't, we're not.

Five home defeats in a row, and no goals in the last four is hardly
the best preparation, but these runs do often seem to come to an end
in style. Which means it will either be 0-1 or 4-0.

Warren Cummings in League One Team of the Year

2005-04-25T11:16:00.000+01:00

http://www.givemefootball.com/display.cfm?article=6399&type=1

This is either the best play-off race ever...

2005-04-24T12:43:00.000+01:00

or the worst. We're doing our best to throw it away, but the other teams just won't take the hint. Seems nobody wants to go up. This does at least mean that it's going down to the last game of the season whether we like it or not, although 5 home defeats in a row and no goals in four of them means we probably shouldn't hold our breath.

Six in a row

2005-04-17T12:59:00.000+01:00

Six away wins in a row, for the first time ever. Three games left; it's in our own hands.

What's going on?!

2005-04-11T16:06:00.000+01:00

So, that's five away wins in a row - matching our best ever run and the only we've ever done it in the same season - and four home defeats in a row, which is pretty awful by anyone's estimation. Had it been the other way around, of course, no one would be complaining. Over the last few years we've come to expect to win our home games and lose away - the fact that we're getting over nine thousand people seeing us lose at home (compared to just a few hundred seeing our victories) makes it seem all the worse.

Although there have been a few points of frustration - Sean O'Driscoll's negative substitution policy, the fact that Fletch appears to be on his last legs - It's important that we don't get carried away with the moaning. As things stand we're still in sixth place, which is still a play-off place. Sure, we'll almost certainly finish seventh (that's another thing we have come to expect), but even that would be a remarkable achievement.

Raising the expectations of the fans is the worst thing a team can possibly do, and we need to keep that in perspective regardless of what happens in the final weeks of the season. I for one would rather suffer the disappointment of missing out on the playoffs right at the end than settle for the benign emotions of a season in mid-table.

A quick look at the squad suggests we have achieved what we have avhieved this season with just 17 players, not including the long term injured, kids who don't play and loanees. 17 players is not a squad; it's little more than a team. And if we fail to reach the playoffs that is the sole reason. With no reserve team squad players like Elliot and Spicer have not had the luxury of missing games thorugh
loss of form, tiredness or even injury. They've had to play regardless because there is no one else.

No time to gamble

2005-03-01T17:34:00.000Z

So, a one all draw at home with Tranmere and suddenly everyone is moaning about how negative we are. I'm not sure I agree with this. People have been saying that it was just lucky that the other teams around us also drew their games, and we didn't lose any ground. But maybe it wasn't lucky; maybe the other teams also realise that at this stage of the season and with thigns being so close a defeat will cost you more than you would gain from a win. A win against Tranmere would have cemented our playoff spot for another week but nothing else; a defeat would have knocked us out of the playoffs and cut us probably permanently adrift of Tranmere in third.

It is easy to sit in the stand and demand changes and risks but that is not reaslistic. The tactics are not cobbled together at a quarter to three. They are planned meticulously and the manager is right to give them a chance to work. By all means make changes if you are two nil down, but when the scores are level stick with it.

This is no time to take needless risks. With 12 games to it is very early to start gambling. Let's make sure we are still in touch with six games left and then we can throw everything we've got at it.

Jimmy Glass - One Hit Wonder

2005-02-16T19:15:00.000Z

Just finished reading Jimmy Glass' autobiography "One Hit Wonder".

It's very poorly written, like a really long article in the sports pages of a local newspaper; Jimmy seems to have a higher opinion of his ability than probably anybody who ever saw him play (and seems surprised that no manager ever tried him up front!); and he clearly has no appreciation of how a defence's lack of confidence in their goalkeeper can have a massive knock on effect for the entire team and its supporters. Yet it is an interesting, if slightly depressing, look at the world of lower league football.

I can't help but wonder what the conditions are like at Bournemouth, these days. It would be nice to think that things ahve moved on in the last few years, but maybe it is a sign that the management and players are doing an even better job than we might appreciate. And as our hopes of promotion are starting to look forlorn, some of the whingers might like to remember that.

AFCB 4-0 Oldham

2005-02-13T15:02:00.000Z

Boy, did we need that.

No updates for a while; that's what you get when you have half a dozen away games in a row. Needless to say things had started to drift on the pitch, too, as tends to be the inevitable fate of AFC Bournemouth. It seems that no matter how good we get it will never be quite good enough. And on those special occasions when it is good enough, something else will invariably come along to spoil things. Like the threat of bankruptcy, usually.

Anyway, a four-nil win. So long as we pick up points from those games in hand there is no reason why we shouldn't be in the reckoning at the end of the season. Hopefully the team can kick on from here. Lots of goals, three points, the first clean sheet in ages - hard to say which is the best. And if it true to say we could have conceded a couple, we could have scored a lot more as well.

In all, then, a good day.

Huddersfield 3-2 AFCB

2005-01-23T13:06:00.000Z

8th. Still got those games in hand but we could do with putting a run of wins together to make sure we stay in touch.

2 goals for Hayter.

Burnley 1-0 Liverpool

2005-01-18T22:07:00.000Z

Bloody useless. But maybe a chance..?

AFCB 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday

2005-01-15T18:46:00.000Z

it's hard to know what annoys me more about todays game - the three minutes of injusry time, our inability to defend until the final whistle, or the incompetance of the police.

with so many police in the ground, and not to mention the helicopter flying overhead, it's amazing that when they actually have to do their job they are conspicuous by their absence. the stewards' decision to remove the moronic pitch invader via the corner next to the home fans was not the most sensible one i have ever seen but it isn't their job anyway. they held the guy down for long enough and only seemed to reluctantly begin to move him when they realised no help was going to be coming from the police. our own moronic burberry element were not exactly blameless in this, either, and it could have been a lot more nasty than it was.

in all a sour ending to what had been a great game with a very bitter blow. where the three minutes of injusry time came from i don't know. there were no bookings, no injuries and just two substitutions; it just made no sense at all. that said, you have to defend until the end and we failed, yet again, to do so. too many times in recent weeks have we let in soft goals and/or late goals and it is going to cost us if we are not careful.

still in seventh, but the teams are starting to spread out. those games in hand are now crucially important to ensure we stay as part of the chasing pack.

random thoughts:
- what a fantastic goal, as good a team goal as we will score this season
- what a save by mossy - definitely save of the season and probably save of last season as well
- shaun maher: excellent. totally worthy of inclusion ahead of howe
- maybe hayter should have been replaced by rodrigues. he was looking a bit knackered towards the end
- third 8000 crowd in a month must be some sort of record. lets hope the occasionals aren;t put off by the unsavouries