A cause for optimism

After slipping out of the play-off places following five consecutive defeats, the Cherries this week have bounced back with away victories over Stevenage and Oldham.

Six points from a possible six have lifted AFC Bournemouth back up to fourth in League One, three points behind second placed Brentford.

In both games the Cherries had Brett Pitman to thank for the goals, with Ryan Allsop saving a penalty against Oldham.

alwaysacherry wrote...

Well, it wasn't particularly pretty but then Oldham isn't so thats to be expected. It was a poor first half with the only real bit of quality leading to a goal. O'Kane linked well with Grabban who beat his man and played it across the six yard box for Pitman to score easily. Oldham looked very poor in those first 45 minutes and played hoofball most of the time.

Second half was a bit better but still not exactly a good game. Oldham were better (they couldn't have been much worse) but our defence looked solid and coped well with all the balls into our box well. We had chances, one especially good one when Grabban did really well to turn his man in the box but instead of cutting back to Pugh who was in a lot of space he chose to shoot straight at the keeper. Can't really comment on the penalty - I didn't see a handball and the players were furious. Allsop did well - although not the best penalty I think he was a bit off balance going the other way and had to adjust quickly. That and a good save from a free kick capped a very good game for him.

All in all you have to be happy especially after 3 successive defeats at Oldham. Good to see Daniels back and two clean sheets in a row has to be cause for optimism. We still need to get our match winners like Pugh and Grabban firing again though and am I right in thinking that apart from Tubbs v Donny no-one other than Pitman has scored since before the Crewe game?

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