Well played Crawley but Bournemouth always had a slight edge. Just two times when Bournemouth players were left unmarked in the penalty area made the difference.
watched 2nd half no sound anyway we threw everything at them big Joe and Dallison up winning headers, one occasion AFC were on the counter and it looked like 3 or 4 versus one Crawley defender, but we held on in the game with just a single goal needed to level, it wasn't quite enough its no excuse its genuine I believe had we had better non-covid preparation there was nothing in AFC that we couldn't match and go on and beat. Heads high. We went out fighting and we can be proud of the team. AFC win 2-1
If the game had ended at half time I would have been so pissed off. Second best to everything. At least we gave it a go 2nd half and although the quality of Bournemouth was clear, at least Bournemouth knew that they had been in a game.
My poor wife, my language during that first half was terrible, but not surprising.
Good effort, eventually, now let’s get in those play off spots.
Great effort from the squad. The team on the pitch battled away all game but in all honesty were beaten by a better team.
Wiltshire had too much time for his goal which is probably why Tsaroulla was subbed (not that it was only his fault). The change in shape helped us but there was always a gap in class.
If the game had ended at half time I would have been so pissed off. Second best to everything. At least we gave it a go 2nd half and although the quality of Bournemouth was clear, at least Bournemouth knew that they had been in a game.
My poor wife, my language during that first half was terrible, but not surprising.
Good effort, eventually, now let’s get in those play off spots.
Perfectly summed up. The game finished with me feeling a sense of pride which I certainly did have at HT. They were the better side but we had a lot of fight which is all you can ask for when playing a side 2 divs above. Most importantly we look so assured at the back versus previous seasons which automatically gives you hope in any game we play.
First half we were poor. Took about 5 minutes before we strung a pass together. As expected a string Bournemouth dominated the ball and went ahead half way through the first half through a well worked goal with Wilshere slotting in from the edge of the box. We were lucky to only be 1-0 down at HT.
Second half started the same way, Bournemouth had lots of the ball, but very wasteful in front of goal combined with Morris playing a blinder on top of his game. Game turned on two things. Firstly Adebowale got booked after his nth foul and Sessay came on and added industry going forward. The former really struggled at full back and was having a mare, although to be fair he hasn’t played in ages. Then we almost score through Nichols after Cherries messing around at the back which inspired us forward. Then deserved equaliser through Nichols after good work from Josh Wright breaking forward winning a header in the box and Nichols deservedly equalised. Justice after Bizzarely being booked by Prem ref Andre Marriner for diving when through on goal after tussling with their CB. Shortly after they went ahead, but we kept plugging away and were in it until FT.
Overall, Bournemouth were far superior as to be expected being an ex prem team, but they never killed the game off after many many chances and we kept plugging away, but it was a game too far in the end!
Good game to watch in the end. Defending has to better as we won’t have a Morris to bail us out always, but we kept going against the odds and we can’t be too disheartened after that. Josh Wright had a great game after coming in which was encouraging and Powell showed some great touches in the middle.
Let’s hope we can keep our league season alive now!
Virginmedia piped it through on the TV service - on one of the radio stations. I didn't expect to go through, but hope can be a wind-up. Nicholls' goal had me believing (briefly). Well done to everyone for making a go of it.
Think the preparation for the game certainly didn’t help and may have had a bearing in the result. Doing a training session on zoom according to Yems is certainly far from ideal. Although Adebowale was poor, I doubt he had much time to prepare for the game with the covid positives messing up plans with team selections. Maybe one or two players only found out at the last minute they were playing. Yes we would have probably lost anyway as they were far superior, but if this happens before a league game and we don’t get too much time to prepare then it is certainly an unfair disadvantage. You can follow all guidelines to a T and fall foul of covid protocols, maybe if the authorities insist on these protocols they could be more accommodating when rearranging games. Now we’re playing catch up in the league, lots of games in a shirt period of time!