Numbers plight is caught on camera

10:50pm Tuesday 15th July 2008

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By Neil Perrett »

WITH Jermain Defoe and Rob-bie Fowler both representing' Cherries - and Sky Sports News on hand to capture the event - Magna Road was thrust into the media spotlight tonight.

But while Kevin Bond's men may have romped to a facile 3-0 victory against Dorset Premier League Hamworthy Recreation, the team which finished for Cherries told its own story.

Predictably, a strong and encouraging starting line-up, including trialists Sammy Igoe and Stephen Maher, laid siege to the Hamworthy goal as Cherries dominated the opening period.

And after Igoe's double either side of half-time had added to Brett Pitman's finely-taken 27th-minute goal, Cherries were in command.

However, their alarming lack of strength in depth came home to roost when the traditional sweeping changes were made around the hour-mark.

After Ryan Pryce had made way for Corrin Brooks-Meade, a flurry of second-year youth team players replaced the seniors, while trialists Carl Pettefer and Clive Roberts were also handed a chance to shine.

Cherries' 44-year-old assistant manager Rob Newman was also required to make up the numbers, as was striker Matt Rich-bell, who was invited to play after writing for a trial.

Midfielder Roberts is the cousin of England star Defoe, while Richbell, in his correspondence, apparently described himself as the "Robbie Fowler of Winchester City"!

Just for good measure, reporter Simon Vincent came on for the final 10 minutes to put the finishing touches to his feature on Cherries' plight, which is due to go out on Sky Sports News tomorrow.

With little more than three weeks until the start of the new season, even the most optimistic of Cherries fans can see Bond is struggling for numbers.

His assistant Newman told the Daily Echo: "We decided to start with what we felt was our strongest team. It was our first game and it showed. There was a bit of rustiness there but I thought they applied themselves well.

"We've had a good 10 days of training, we trained this morning and used this as another training session and it worked well. Results aren't important and it was good to get the majority of the players through a good 60-minute workout."

Newman added: "It was a mix and match at the end but that's the way it is at the moment. Jermain phoned Eddie (Howe) about Clive Roberts and he pas-sed it to the gaffer. If he is out of that mould, we would have been stupid not to have a look.

"Matt wrote in for a trial last season and said he could be the answer. We get a million letters like that but the gaffer invited him in for a reserve game.

"He came in last season and saw he needed to get himself a bit fitter. The gaffer was true to his word and gave him 10 minutes tonight. That's not to say everybody who writes in is going to get 10 minutes in the first team!"