Andy Munro on Blues’ successful trip to the seaside.
Coastal towns are known for their battering winds and Blues must have felt similar when they came up against Eddie Howe’s well-schooled team.
Blues lined up with Robbo at full-back and Ollie Lee was preferred to Callum Reilly. Further upfield Burke was preferred to Aaron McLean and the side seemed to have a decent shape and blend. However, Bournemouth ,who are notoriously quick starters ,tore into Blues yet it was Andrew Shinnie who opened the scoring after some smart build up work. This failed to discourage the Cherries who continued to pound a resolute Blues backline and a keeper who was playing out of his skin. Maybe he had the luck of the Irish but if mad Martin O’Neill thinks that there are any more talented Irish keepers then he must be even madder than we thought he was.
Things got even better when Ziggy coolly finished in a way that has become a surprising habit following good work from the enigma that is Jesse Linguard. So, at the turn around, we had a useful, if slightly fortunate, lead.
The pattern continued in the second period with Randolph almost ‘Banks – like’ in his performance behind an almost impervious back four in which Burn and Bartley were colossal. If I were to be uncharitable in victory, I would say that our midfield were too easily over run. Shinnie continues to drift in and out of games as if psychologically he isn’t sure where he should be playing whilst Lee looked a bit lightweight.
It will be interesting to see if Clark changes it against Forest. In the interests of continuity and understanding, I hope he resists the temptation to tinker. However I think he might be tempted to bring back Reilly for Lee and maybe bring back McClean – hopefully not at the expense of Chris Burke.
Home form is still a definite monkey on our back and it’s being reflected in the paltry crowds. On that subject, the Forest match will be on the last shopping weekend before Chrstmas, when gates are at their lowest point. Personally, I can’t understand it; given the chance of being dragged around Primark or watching a soccer match, there is no comparison even if, in this case, the team in question, in a football sense have been bought at the same store.