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Date: 20 February 2001
After my previous five games (q.v.) I felt more or less obliged to go to this one as Bournemouth's "lucky mascot". But this game ended my run of good fortune, and the biggest cheer of the evening went to the announcement from Prenton Park, as we were leaving, that the Scummers had seen a 3-0 half-time lead reversed to 4-3!
A good start, with Defoe hitting the side netting in the first minute or two. Briefly, we thought we'd scored. But as the game progressed Defoe found himself victim, again and again, to the linesman's flag and both he and Jorgensen found themselves frequently victim to physical challenges that went - errr - unchallenged.
The substitution of Eribenne for Tindall late on, brought the game to life. In his first touch he won us a corner. Following two corner kicks, in his second touch Eribenne passed to Hughes who scored. Whether Eribenne would be so useful over ninety minutes, though, is less certain.
Although all the Bournemouth players showed spirit, this game was rarely allowed to flow and the overall evening was somewhat disappointing. For Bournemouth fans, the match was extra frustrating: some were locked out when tickets for the away stand ran out, (we made up a sixth of the total attendance but were congested in one small stand,) while others were victims of heavy policing in the ground. Those of us sitting high in the stand found our view obscured by standing coppers.
My scores out of ten :
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Stewart (6);
Broadhurst (8), Tindall (7), Howe (7);
Purches (5), C Fletcher (7), Hughes (7), Jorgensen (6);
Hayter (6);
S Fletcher (5), Defoe (7)
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