It was good meeting Baz again, I have added my 2 pence worth at the bottom! Kev
For the first time in a few weeks I had some company on my intrepid travels watching the Blues from near and far. A trip to the seaside it was but December is not necessarily the month I would choose for it. Will offered to drive and my eldest son Jonny was home from University for the weekend and so our triumvirate headed down the M3 towards Southampton before veering off to the west down the A31 towards our destination.
The first thing that was a little different about this trip was the fact that there was a car park right outside the ground but that the car park fee was £1.00!!! Where in the world do you know of that charges a £1.00 for parking? However, the good news was at an end. We asked the guy in charge of the car park where the nearest pub was to be told that any pubs close by were all home supporters only and we had better get ready for a 15-20 minute walk. In fairness it wasn’t that far but we had to leg it down into the town centre to a Wetherspoon’s chain pub where a bloke could get a pint before the match. One thing I did notice was the amount of dog mess on the pavements on the way to town; far more than you would normally expect to see and it was like a game of hopscotch negotiating the journey.
What baffled me was that there was SKY News on the screens inside the pub showing footage of Nelson Mandela’s remote village in South Africa on the eve of the great man’s funeral but given the repetitive nature of world news and the fact that the camera did not move off the scene it was a bit tedious. The Arsenal game at Manchester City a 6-3 epic in the Mancunians’ favour was not shown on a Saturday afternoon but there you go. We necked a couple of pints of their finest ale and headed back the ground. Selfies are in the news and this is us:
I’m the good looking one in the middle!
The game itself was bizarre in a way in that although Blues were largely outplayed for the most part they ran out comfortable winners. Don’t let the 2-0 score line in our favour fool you; Bournemouth exceeded Birmingham in every statistic except the vital one namely goals but although we only had four on target attempts, we scored with two Bournemouth had 24 attempts, 8 on target and crucially no goals. Bournemouth are one of those teams that flatter to deceive. They knock it about in nice intricate patterns but when they get towards what is euphemistically called the ‘final third’ they run out of ideas and resorted at least in this game in delivering the ball into our box in the hope that something might just drop for them. It never did; Bartley and Burn were excellent in the centre of defence. Will made the point that our full backs tucked in and allowed Bournemouth’s wide men especially Pugh space on the flanks. If this was the game plan, it worked as Blues repelled wave upon wave of increasingly desperate Bournemouth attacks.
The game was won in the first half an hour largely against the run of play I might add. After barely three minutes Blues were ahead when Ollie Lee stole the ball from Steve Cook who immediately laid it out to Burke with whom he overlapped receiving the ball out wide on the right before squaring dangerously across the area for the onrushing Andrew Shinnie to net from eight yards. It was a beautifully well worked goal which left the Bournemouth team stunned and their crowd of 9,256 muted. Bournemouth responded well to the early setback and controlled the lion’s share of possession aided and abetted by Blues’ attempts to help by continually giving the ball away cheaply, a trait that was to continue all afternoon. We were fortunate that we were up against opponents who lacked the guile to unlock our resolute defence. Ironically it was carelessness on the part of Bournemouth’s Andrew Surman that led to Blues doubling their lead. His header into midfield was seized upon by Lingard whose well weighted first time pass to the feet of Zigic was comfortably dispatched past Lee Camp in the Bournemouth goal without breaking stride. I had to blink repeatedly to convince myself that we were 2-0 to the good in a match that the home side had dominated!
Bournemouth, despite their domination of the game and possession created very few moments of real threat but Darren Randolph saved well from a Grabben header on 24 minutes, before the Bournemouth front man wasted a glorious chance just before the break when he was put through but side footed wide of the far post. The second half continued in the same vein with Bournemouth maintaining possession without working Randolph regularly. However, he made an excellent triple save from Grabben, Rantie and Ritchie with about six minutes left before his defenders finally joined in and helped him out. It is just as well since our nerves were already stretched given that Blues had been under the cosh for most of the second half.
This was an excellent away win for Lee Clark’s men, but Bournemouth were very much in the Christmas spirit gifting the Blues an early two goal lead. You only have to look at their goals against statistics to realise exactly what their problem is. To be fair they play neat, tidy, attractive passing football but they don’t defend properly and they have a nosebleed when they get close to their opponents penalty box. They are nowhere near the worst side I’ve seen in this division and they should survive their first season at this level since promotion comfortably. It was not Blues’ best performance by any stretch; in fact I will go as far as to say that we were poor at times but we won and pretty comfortably in the end despite the battering our defence took.
The Good; The result despite our indifferent performance; the goals were well taken and crisply finished.
The Bad: Giving the ball away cheaply when we got it. A better team than Bournemouth would have had a field day. There were no pies at half time!
The Ugly: At half time we went for a cuppa and a pie. No pies so it was one of those horrible processed hot dogs (YUK!!) One of the people serving with her back to us at first and weighing in I would estimate at 20 stone plus turned round. Now I don’t like body piercing at the best of times but facial piercings when you are grossly overweight is not a good look! In Greek mythology it was what used to turn men to stone!
Bournemouth AFC: Lee Camp 6, Simon Francis 6, Tommy Elphick 6, Steve Cook 5, Charlie Daniels 6 (Brett Pitmann 79, 5), Eunan O’Kane 6, Andrew Surman 5 (Ryan Fraser 45, 6), Harry Arter 7, Matt Ritchie 7, Marc Pugh 7 (Tokelo Rantie 66, 6), Lewis Grabben 6.
Birmingham City: Darren Randolph 8, Paul Caddis 7, Kyle Bartley 7, Dan Burn 7, Paul Robinson 7, Chris Burke 6 (Aaron McLean 62, 6), Jesse Lingard 7 (Callum Reilly 75, 6), Ollie Lee 7, Andrew Shinnie 7, Tom Adeyemi 6, Nikola Zigic 6.
Goals: Shinnie 3, Zigic 33.
Referee: Michael Naylor: 5 Made a rod for his own back booking Caddis early and then couldn’t keep his cards in his pocket. Booked Caddis, Bartley, Burn and Burke for Blues and Ritchie for Bournemouth and it wasn’t a dirty game. Missed a blatant hand ball for a penalty in Blues’ favour that we could clearly see from 80 yards away giving a corner instead. Ball to hand is one thing but patting a cross down from above your head is not ball to hand!
Attendance 9,256 (1,388 bluenoses who were in excellent voice. Pity we can’t generate such atmosphere at St Andrews!)
KRO SOTV
Bazza
Kev’s addition!
I took both my boys, it was my youngest’s 2nd game with his previous being our 1-0 defeat to Ipswich last season. Despite that, he insisted he wanted to go again! They both enjoyed the time, particularly enjoying the “HANDBALL” chant, Ziggy’s goal, and meeting one of their heroes!
I agree with Baz’s report 95%, although I thought that Randolph was involved a little more than he suggested! The Bournemouth fans must have been gutted – it reminded me so much of what we have experienced!
Although there are things to criticise, this performance was alright and the game was enjoyable. The wind played a huge part too.
Hopefully we can put a bit of a run together and start looking the other way for a change!
You say one vital statistic was we scored and they didn’t, but as you eluded to later another vital statistic is they let two in.
Two rules of footy is if you can’t score then make sure you don’t concede and they failed in both, as we know to our cost this season.
There are many games like this in the top two divisions so i suggest they get used to it.
Don’t see the need for a personal attack on an Bournemouth employee, just because of the way they look or what they wear, has nothing to do with football and shows shallowness, are we in North Korea?
We can’t all be body beautifull, in fact most humans are ugly in some way, my mirror shows me every day!
in reply to chris …..its easy to critical…im sure the comment was made with tongue in cheek…perhaps you should try writing a report ……………………great reading your reports baz..I live in Thailand and follow your adventures with great pleasure…reminds me of a long long time ago when I was able to follow every game …thankyou for taking time to put your experiences on paper…look forward to more “views from the south “
Thanks Mo for the kind remarks. Chris, as Mo says, the comment was made very much tongue in cheek and is meant to be a bit of humour. I have not identified the Bournemouth employee and I could be talking about a number of people. If I’ve offended you in these politically correct times I’m sorry you’re offended but I try and tell it the way it is.
Hi Chris, Baz was being quite tame, as some the things that were said to the catering staff by some of our travelling contingent at half time were unrepeatable. I think that some of the things said were not just about the looks of the scuffy staff but the lack of speed and service. I would have gone back to complain about the quality as well, but didn’t fancy queuing anymore.
The queues were bad, but no different to many other grounds. I actually thought it was a nice ground, and we were made very welcome by everyone we spoke to. I’d happily go there again. There have been many grounds that I have never been to twice!
In regards to the employee, unfortunately there tends to be an “accepted” appearance for those serving food etc. I’m not commenting on the rights or wrongs, but as someone who has a lot of experience in customer service, unfortunately it is true.
We are AFC Bournemouth, not Bournemouth AFC, just to add. Unfortunately for away fans the nearest away pub is in a bit of a run down area, the route there included.
Thanks for your match report Bazza, it was very much the way WM described the game. They said, Blues got away with a “smash and grab” act and that for much of the game, we were outplayed. But football is a simple game, the rules clearly state, all you have to do,to win a match, is score more goals than the opposing team. It’s no good making 500 passes in a game,if you don’t score a goal. I enjoy your matchday reports Bazza,including your travel itinerary. As for descriptions of people (shape and facial appearance ) you are entitled to your opinion and it all helps to paint a picture of your day out. KRO
Am an AFCB fan and thought this is the most accurate and honest report I’ve seen from an apposing fan in a long time. Although we lost and am not interested in the blues will keep an eye on this blog it may be handy you never know! Good game guys! All the best for the rest of the season
Thank you for your kind words Zak. Bazza prides himself in giving a true reflective account of a game. Yes there is the Blues slant, but he will always give credit where it is due.
Don’t tell him I said that though, he’ll want paying for his service!
Great post as always.Cheers
Fantastic report, great bunch of supporters! Good luck for the rest of the season! One little thing, the young lady who you refer to……. Is male…. It took me many seasons find out! Up the cherries!