SOBS V CHERRIES

The Lads headed as south as is possible this season for a silly kickoff time and won a well-deserved point in the face of some awful refereeing. I'll give him 4 out of 10: one for turning up, two for getting his boots on the right feet, and a bonus for being able to count past 100. Mayenda's early knock-in was cancelled out by a second half header when the cross looked destined for Roefs, but our stopper had an otherwise fine afternoon - apart for the card for fannying about with a goal kick.

It being a silly o'clock kickoff, it was an even sillier start for the fans - the Midnight Express, which got us to town for breakfast, enlivened by the squad strolling past Spoons, then  a couple of cocktails at the Cricketers as the team news came in... no Cirkin, Mukiele, Ta Bi, Mundle, Reinildo, or Brobbey but:

Roefs 

Geertruida Ballard Alderete Hume

Xhaka (c) Sadiki Diarra

Talbi Mayenda Le Fee

...and a bench of Ellborg, O'Nien, Jones (N), Jones (J), Rigg, Isidor, Angulo, Traore, and Aleksic.

In the smart blue kit, and on a sunny but cool lunchtime, we faced left as our fans looked, and set things away after more fireworks than our last visit - which was on Bonfire Night. And we won. 

Within a couple of minutes, a low Sadiki shot was scrambled away by the keeper, but we kept it alive and went back into the box, only for the ref (and presumably VAR) ignore the very obvious push. VAR? Use it or bin it. PGMOL apparently deemed it "natural contact", which set the bar pretty low for the rest of the game.

A naughty foul on Hume 30 yards out five minutes later brought a free which won us a corner on our right - and the home fans persisted with the dullest drum beat ever. Stick it where the sun don't shine, please. We cleared a home corner after a vital Ballard intervention before a foul on Xhaka was ignored - but they shot wide anyhow. 

Big Dan then played a lovely one down the line for Talbi, whose direct running was unsettling the home defence, and when Diarra's low shot was only parried, there was Eli to knock it in from a yard or two. Apparently he doesn't like Sam Fender and he plays up front for Sunlun SUNLUN!

Hold onto that for another 72 minutes and we're laughing. Seriously, though, we deserved that, even if just to mock Bournemouth for celebrating the reduction in the energy price cap by putting the floodlights on.

We pressed to extend our lead as our defence, Roefs included, got in the way of everything, and five minutes after the goal a lovely Gerty touch won us a corner which was punched away. At the other end, an excellent Roefs save saw him stay low and block the follow-up. Unlike him, he was soon after caught faffing about thirty yards from his goal, but was fouled. When Sadiki cleared after a tackle he was booked when the ref deemed it a foul and the clearance "kicking the ball away."

Aw, ref man!

Roefs was there again, diving right to push the free away for a throw, as the home forwards hoyed themselves to the floor at every opportunity. Perhaps we should try it - seems to be the Prem way to do things. Enzo let rip from distance with five to go to the break, but it clipped off a Cherry head for a corner which he took, but which came to nothing.

A foul on Eli was missed as two added minutes were announced, we dealt comfortably with a home corner, and that was it.

Worth the lead? Hell, yes. 

No changes for us for the second half, but Evanilson - a proper pest - came on for them. However, it was us who nearly got the game's next goal when Diarra galloped through, but when his shot came off the keeper, it rebounded off our man for a goal kick rather than a goal.

Close, but no vape.

A few shoulder-charges were allowed - they had to be after our non-penalty - then on 57 Adams went right over the top after we'd committed a foul on halfway and Xhaka was very lucky not to have his leg broken. A straighter red you'll struggle to see, but it was only yellow and they still got the free. His guilt was compounded soon after when he was replaced, the dorty get.

Soon after that, a cross from their left looked to have our keeper's name on it, but it curled away from him and was shouldered in by Evanilson. A lengthy VAR check discounted a possible handball that nobody on the field had spotted, but that added more minutes. With 18 to go, our keeper faffed about with a goal kick and was rightly carded for time-wasting.

Don't give the ref the opportunity to pull you up for that sort of stuff, Robin! Daft. 

Xhaka, still feeling the effects of a long layoff and that "tackle" was replaced by Angulo on 75, and our new boy quickly put himself about, winning a corner which saw Dan's header flash wide of the back post. A foul on Angulo gave the home side the chance to bring on two more subs and the free eventually found its way into the net thanks to Diarra, but Gerty was offside- they even showed us on the big screen. Damn. 

The last few minutes brought more yellows for the Cherries as Gerty and Enzo were crudely fouled, then eight extra minutes were announced. I thought five, but lots of subs and a couple of VAR interventions... and five minutes into it a pull on Eli's shirt brought another yellow. Off he went in favour of Isidor, Trai launched the free into the box and Bournemouth got it away with bodies flying all over the shop. 

From somewhere the ref found another four minutes to add to the original eight, there was lots of falling down in our box as Bournemouth tried to take a corner and there was a spell of Sunday morning madness in front of Roefs that we came out of the better, and eventually the whistle went.

Phew. 

A valuable point that gets us closer to the magical 40, and got us above them up the road, if only for a few hours. It also changed my opinion of Bournemouth, who I previously had a bit of time for. Not a pleasant team. Oh, and don't get me started on Antipodean officials. 

Man of the Match? Big Dan. Defensively sound and very positive getting it forward.