AFCB

I arrived in Southampton, for university, on the 23rd September, and Southampton haven't had a home game since. Now since I'm doing a sport related course, in Sport Writing, I felt it would be a good idea to get in touch with Sport in the local area. Now instead of going to the over-inflated prima donna prices you will find at Fratton Park nowadays, I decided to head south-west to Dean Court to watch AFC Bournemouth play.

So it came to be me, two of my flatmates (one of whom came from Bournemouth and briefed me on the Bournemouth situation) and a classmate went along to watch Bournemouth play Carlisle. I ordered the tickets for collection the night before and prepared for a good (and cheap!) day out. I wake up, and my Bournemouth-loving flatmate informs me that trains to Bournemouth are down. Great. So we all grab a coach to Bournemouth and a taxi to "The Fitness First Stadium". My first impressions were, to be honest, fantastic. The ground looked great, and seemed to be in a nice area. The locals were friendly and Carlisle had brought a great following down (the longest trip in the football league I believe).

We made our way into the ground about ten minutes prior to kick off and the atmosphere seemed good, even for a team in the relegation zone. Then the game started. I've been to many lower league games, I must be pushing triple figures now, but Bournemouth were poor from the word go. Carlisle dominated them, and took the lead reasonably early on. Then came the corker, the moment the Bournemouth knew that they wouldn't be escaping the relegation zone any tie soon. Carlisle won a free kick about 40 yards out. The Carlisle player, spotting 'Cherries' keeper Asmir Begovic off his line, flighted in a cheeky lob attempt. Begovic caught it well, but the problem was, he backpedalled at a furious rate, banging his arms against the bar at the same time. He dropped the ball and Carlisle jumped at the chance to score, taking a two goal lead.

The second half was a minor improvement, Bournemouth clawed one back, through Jo Kuffour, but conceded minutes later. Two of the attractions of the Bournemouth side were stalwarts Paul Telfer and Darren Anderton. Anderton, a legend of the Solent area, looked a solid and imposing figure in the middle of the park. Telfer, however, was poor. He failed to receive passes and was often to beaten to balls passed to him. He also made many a stray pass as Bournemouth collapsed 3-1.

I returned the tuesday after to watch Bournemouth play Brighton, where they were even poorer. They managed just one shot on target in the second half after letting two early goals in after half-time. Bournemouth looked doomed, Kevin Bond looks clueless, and the team needs organising, else they face the long trip to Morecambe next season.