Tonight's game

[Southampton Shrimper]

Another good performance from the lads tonight. Bournemouth really came at us from the start of the second half, when of course they scored the equaliser, but I feel on the balance of the 90 minutes the score was a fair reflection of the match. We showed on several occasions the difference in class between the Championship and League One and looked by far the stronger and more able outfit.

Mark Gower had yet another excellent game, running all over the pitch, getting crosses in and his goal was absolutely superb - well worth catching it on TV if you can!

Peter Clarke continued where he left off against Sunderland, looking masterful in defence, as I mentioned after Saturday's game, it's going to be a long time before he loses his place in the team!

It was great to see Freddy bang them in again. His second was pure vintage Freddy, running with the ball from the halfway line, running past a couple of defenders, then getting the ball past the keeper, and just when you think he's hit it too long, in it goes into the back of the net!

The only negative I can think of in terms of the players was James Lawson. He was pretty ineffective, he kept falling over, didn't seem to win much and when he was given a couple of chances at goal he hit the ball wide with pretty weak headers. This against a reasonable League One team, I can't see him performing in the Championship, I'm afraid. I would pick Bradbury and Paynter ahead of him when they're fit. Hooper looked OK, but didn't really get long enough to be able to make a full judgement.

But on the whole, to finish on a positive note, a good all-round team performance, a couple of great goals, and we've broken our 8-year duck!!

Bring on Round 2!!!

 

[Beefy]

http://bournemouth.rivals.net/default....8420516

Bournemouth's Rivals report is up already....

 

[DevonShrimper]

Just back in after returning to Torquay.
Nice to meet some fellow supporters in the Queens Park before the game. Good to get to my first game of the season.

Flavs, solid as usual. Only called on to make some decent saves occasionally. Couple of acrobatic leaps to wow the crowd.

Francis seems to be in control and made some nice runs down the right.

Maher played more to the right that I remember in the past. Controlled his area well.

I'd forgotten Freddy was on the pitch until the penalty. Pretty anonymous until then and that seemed to spark something.

Lawson. Hmmm... seems out of his depth in the squad. Ran about a lot but pretty ineffective.

Hooper seemed useful in the short time he was on, but he was fresh and the opposition was a division lower as well as tired. Time will tell.

Gower. Both hero and villian. His run from almost the corner flag across the front of the box to shoot was classic Freddy. Allowed the space he used it well. But mad a few gaffs in the second half.

Ref had a good game I thought. Allowed play to continue, didn't use any cards. I felt the penalty decision a bit harsh. I'm not sure, but I think it was Gower who kicked the ball and to me he played for the hand. If it had been the other way round we would have been bitching for weeks. He annoyed both sets of fans in the second half by having a long talk to an AFC player and then not booking him.

The lino's both had a bad game. Offside applies when the ball is kicked, not when you receive it!

Happy with the result, but played more like a training match. We were always in control, except when we came out for the second half and yet again we showed our tendency to go to sleep for the first 5 minutes. Any stato's know how many times we've conceded in those 5 mins for the last two seasons?

 

[Elvisisashrimper]

BBC reports that Mar Gower scored our first...........

"Mar Gower put the Shrimpers ahead with a thumping shot after a fine solo run."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/5266240.stm

Is Mar Gower any relation to Old Ma Gower who used to work at the fish shop next to Woolworths?

Just love typos

 

[overseas shrimper]

Quote[/b] (DevonShrimper @ Aug. 23 2006,01:32)]Hooper seemed useful in the short time he was on, but he was fresh and the opposition was a division lower as well as tired. Time will tell.

But was still playing against a team 2 divisions higher than he is use to playing.

 

[DevonShrimper]

Quote[/b] (overseas shrimper @ Aug. 23 2006,07:38)]

Quote[/b] (DevonShrimper @ Aug. 23 2006,01:32)]Hooper seemed useful in the short time he was on, but he was fresh and the opposition was a division lower as well as tired. Time will tell.

But was still playing against a team 2 divisions higher than he is use to playing.

Good point. It was late last night when I wrote that.

 

[Jam_Man]

Hooper is going to take a while to settle, I doubt his fitness is pro level yet etc.

Just look how long it took Freddy to settle. He didnt score his first goal for 12 seconds. Hmmn, ok bad example.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

Quote[/b] (Jam_Man @ Aug. 23 2006,08:34)]Hooper is going to take a while to settle, I doubt his fitness is pro level yet etc.

Just look how long it took Freddy to settle. He didnt score his first goal for 12 seconds. Hmmn, ok bad example.

He is not going to be a Freddy then

 

[Southampton Shrimper]

Quote[/b] (DevonShrimper @ Aug. 23 2006,00:32)]Ref had a good game I thought. Allowed play to continue, didn't use any cards. He annoyed both sets of fans in the second half by having a long talk to an AFC player and then not booking him.

Agree the ref had a pretty good game, and that was the craziest thing he did. The Big Man Fletcher lunged in with a two-footed tackle, so the ref blew for a free kick. This then prompted Fletcher to have an enormous stroppy hissy fit and he refused to go over to the ref for quite a while. By the time he got to the ref, the Bournemouth fans were making such a noise (well, they had to at some point in the evening), it was almost as though they convinced the ref not to book him!

He definitely should have got a yellow card - either for the two-footed lunge or for the subsequent dissent - and if he was particularly unlucky could have got one for each and been sent off!

 

[DevonShrimper]

Quote[/b] (Southampton Shrimper @ Aug. 23 2006,11:45)]

Quote[/b] (DevonShrimper @ Aug. 23 2006,00:32)]Ref had a good game I thought. Allowed play to continue, didn't use any cards. He annoyed both sets of fans in the second half by having a long talk to an AFC player and then not booking him.

Agree the ref had a pretty good game, and that was the craziest thing he did. The Big Man Fletcher lunged in with a two-footed tackle, so the ref blew for a free kick. This then prompted Fletcher to have an enormous stroppy hissy fit and he refused to go over to the ref for quite a while.
He definitely should have got a yellow card - either for the two-footed lunge or for the subsequent dissent - and if he was particularly unlucky could have got one for each and been sent off!

Can't disagree. In the normal run of things I feel he would have gotten both cards and said hello to an early bath. But I stick by the idea that the ref had a canny game. The play had begun to get a little messy for a few minutes, culminating in Fletchers lunge.
It was a brave decision by the ref. Talking to Fletcher for a couple of minutes allowed Fletcher to cool down and all the players to lose some emotion. The result was that Fletcher was a good boy for the rest of the evening and the game restarted with strong but fair play.
I think the only decision that I'd pick him up for seriously was the penalty decision. I agree with the commentator. From where I was (in line with the penalty D) Gower did appear to just loft the ball at the Cherries player. A case of ball to hand, not hand to ball. In a season that will even out. We had a couple of those against us last season.