Glovers Gloves stops Three Points

Bournemouth's attempt at getting their home form back on track was thwarted by a Man of the Match performance by Yeovil's keeper Walker today.

The on- loan Chelsea giant stopper pulled off four top drawer saves to deny Groves and Brooks their first win in charge. Lining up with the same side that had played impressively at Stevenage the Cherries demonstrated the on the floor passing and movement promised by the new gaffer. Attacking the Fletcher stand masses a couple of early chances came and went when Thomas headed wide Malone's cross from 6 yards and Walker brilliantly tipped over a deflected 30 yard thunderbolt from Shaun Cooper.

There was relief at the other end though when Williams nipped in following a lapse of concentration from Cook and Addison but the target man opted to lob Flahavan instead of blast it and held his head in his hands when the ball landed on the roof of the net.

With Francis buzzing down the right and Arter tucked inside the Cherries had a lot of early threat and the latter set up Thomas but Walker again brilliantly kept out his low drive.

The lanky keeper was just warming up though and his dramatic late finger tip intervention kept Pugh's free-kick out of the top corner. He was saving his best though for a stunning palm away from the same top corner when Cook met Pugh's corner with a bullet header.

It was a great half hour but the goal it deserved did not materialise and Bournemouth started to run out of steam and ideas. Arter tucking in worked when he got the ball off Thomas or Hines but when this was worked out by Yeovil there was no plan B on the right and with Pugh always cutting in on the left there was no early crosses to trouble the Glover's defence. This set the pattern for the rest of the game with Bournemouth playing a lot of attractive football but with no pace on the flanks or ability to dink a ball through, it all became a bit stale and stalled in the final third time and time again.

HT Bournemouth 0 Yeovil 0

The second half started with a couple of bright runs from the intermittent Hines but his final shot was weak on both occasions.

The game then descended into end of season fayre with neither side busting a gut and little tension on the terraces. There there followed the obligatory series of substitutions as the new management team checked out their options for the rest of the campaign. Mcdermott came on for Hines and played off Thomas and looked sporadically bright but as usual too intricate. Gregory came on for Mcdonald and tidied the back four allowing Cooper to push up where he somehow didn't connect with a header from Malone's fizzing cross.

There was one dramatic intervention to prevent a certain Yeovil winner. When Flahavan failed to come for a routine cross Williams headed over him at the far post but Cook brilliantly hooked off the line at full stretch.

Fogden came on for Arter and was nearly the match winner for the second home game in a row when his brilliantly placed looping header from Malone's cross was again superbly kept out by Walker at full stretch.

The game then drifted into passing stalemate with little penetration and a series of frustratingly over hit passes. Thomas blasted miles over from a late corner and that saw the match out.

FT Bournemouth 0 Yeovil 0

Flahavan 6 - Little to do but still rooted to line too often.

Francis 8 - Buzzed up and down superbly playing two roles.

Addison 7 - Solid enough and strolled through

Cook 7 - Match winning clearance and committed heading.

Malone 7 - Attacked at will and some great crosses.

Arter 7- Tucked inside and played some great passes.

Mcdonald 6 - Great in spells but not dominant enough.

Cooper 6 - Ticked things over nicely but lacks a bit of pace.

Pugh 7 - Tidy attacking display but holds too long sometimes.

Thomas 6 - Should have at least scored once. Worked hard.

Hines 6 - Looks like a man out of form trying hard. Some nice runs.

Between Francis and Malone for me. Giving it to the former for playing two roles really. If this had been a Bradbury team we would probably be harder on this result. As it was you could see a marked difference in the style of play but you could also see it was going to have little difference on the end result - although Groves will say with good evidence that keeper Walker was largely responsible for this. Our Achilles heel remains pace (or lack of). With Arter and Pugh on the flanks there is not going to be any out pacing of full-backs but a lot of checking inside and passing square. This condenses the play somewhat and nobody had the nouse to dink Thomas or Hines away. They are both players dying to be released but playing with their backs to goal because of the deliberate nature of the play. At times we kept the ball well and at speed but it was always in front of Yeovil and rarely behind them.

We also lack a plan B in terms of a dominant aerial threat or an out and out speed merchant. Our defence will be good enough against most attacks outside the top 10 but unless we work out how to unlock defences the dullness of this season at home will continue.

Report by Neil Dawson For me after seeing our 1-0 win against Brentford with a cracking goal from Fogden, today was a breath of fresh air.

Thought our defence were solid, Addison a rock, the midfield played well as a unit and there was good passing from defence to midfield.

The only thing was missing was that end product , thought Thomas was going to score first half but couldn't beat the keeper.

We had our moments but the keeper pulled of some good saves.

Second half the substitutions seemed well timed as we had a game on Tuesday and Hines who did well might have been tiring as he hadn't had many games before joining us.

Fogden who came on for Arter I thought had clinched the game with a good leap and header, only for the keeper to tip over again.

For me who has only seen our home games, Francis has to be one of our best signings, composed and deceiving in his speed with runs and good crosses down the wing.

Pugh and Malone did well together down the left.

Word of praise for the ref he didn't miss much and was always on top of the game.

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