Graham Pearcey

Graham Pearcey

Brentford 3 Cherries 2

Date: 30 September 2000

The style of play was more disappointing than the result for Cherries' fans. As loyal supporters, at the end, applauded their team, club captain Steve Fletcher urged them to stop because the team hadn't deserved it. This was a lacklustre performance in which few Bournemouth players excelled.

The result, however, could have been very different if just one member of Bournemouth's starting line-up had been changed: Stevland Angus, given a central role in defence, must take some of the blame for all three Brentford goals. Who knows, if Smith had taken his place earlier on (this was a late substitution made) we may have won 2-0.

Bournemouth's first goal was scored by Jorgensen but all the credit must go to a wonderful cross by Carl Fletcher which made Claus's job look easy. The surprising choice of Carl as right wing-back in Young's absence therefore paid off early. Carl put in more excellent crosses later in the game, before switching to a more central position.

The arrival of Ford for Carl in a later substitution led to the penalty, when Ford was brought down in the area and Hughes coolly shot from the spot.

In the other substitution the lively Huck replaced Grant who had once again made a hash of trying to combine coaching and playing. Once, in the first half, Grant had received the ball with an almost open goal in front of him, but was so busy coaching that he'd failed to spot the opportunity.

Tindall had one or two excellent saves, as did Menetrier, but once again the back five suffered from not being able to guess when Menetrier would stay on his line and when he'd leave it.

My scores out of ten :



Menetrier (7);
Tindall (7), Angus (4), Woozley (6);
C Fletcher (8), Elliott (7), Grant (6), Hughes (6), Jorgensen (6), Purches (7);
S Fletcher (7)



My 'man of the match' : C Fletcher.



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