Cherries: Sobering reminder as form swings yet again

7:00am Monday 8th February 2010

By Neil Perrett

COME May, it remains to be seen whether the glass half full brigade will be toasting promotion or the glass half empty crew drowning their sorrows.

Aside from leaving the Dean Court crowd to contemplate hitting the bottle, this insipid swig provided little in the way of answers.

An impoverished stalemate, largely devoid of incident and entertainment, it was sterile and uninspiring in double measures.

Since the turn of the year, both optimists and pessimists among the Cherries faithful have had a field day as the pendulum has gone into overdrive.

A thumping new year hangover dragged on for three weeks as Eddie Howe’s beleaguered troops suffered a hat-trick of defeats.

With their chins on the floor and their tails between their legs, the wheels appeared to have come off as a blip threatened to escalate into a slump.

Successive away trips to Crewe and Rotherham presented Howe and his charges with a serious test of character and an even stiffer examination of their promotion credentials.

But Steve Fletcher, Danny Hollands and Brett Pitman morphed into Donny Osmond, Dirty Den and Lasse Viren as Cherries completed a comeback of Lazarus proportions.

And as the Cherries team coach departed South Yorkshire on Tuesday, it was hotly pursued by the club’s promotion bandwagon, now fixed and firmly back on track.

In the space of four days, a widening 10-point gap between second-placed Cherries and table-topping Rochdale had been narrowed to just four.

Only struggling Cheltenham stood between Cherries and another victory and even Harry Redknapp bought the first match ticket online after launching a new club website.

Fortunately for him, Harry opted to stick with his day job, swapping his seat at Dean Court for a place in the dugout at White Hart Lane as Spurs were held 0-0 by Aston Villa.

Always a shrewd judge, Harry’s decision was truly vindicated after this mind-numbingly tedious affair had limped to its conclusion.

However, in the final reckoning, this solitary point could prove crucial, while the four garnered this season from Cheltenham may turn out to be priceless.

“It could be an invaluable point,” said Cherries striker Fletcher. “But we will probably look at it as two dropped because of the form we had been in.

“We wanted to put our home record right after two defeats. There was a little bit of added pressure, but it’s the type of pressure you want. You want to be second in the league and going for promotion.

“It wasn’t a classic and I don’t think it will go down in history as a great game. Sometimes, you have to hold up your hands to the opposition. They made it difficult and were dogged.”

The Robins, struggling near the foot of League Two following relegation last season, will doubtless be glad to see the back of Cherries.

Having succumbed to an ill-deserved 1-0 defeat at Whaddon Road on Boxing Day, Cheltenham will view one point from six against Howe’s men as scant reward for their efforts.

They could have stolen a march during a positively-dire opening period when Cherries goalkeeper Shwan Jalal saved with his legs from Justin Richards after 16 minutes.

There were hardly a litany of goalscoring chances, with efforts from Josh McQuoid, Pitman and Liam Feeney the best Cherries could muster in the first half.

In common with the two teams, whistle-happy referee Darren Sheldrake also had a stinker, his ambivalent display doing little for continuity.

Cherries enjoyed the better of the second period, although Robins goalkeeper Scott Brown was only seriously tested by Pitman’s late free kick.

Pitman also side-footed wide when it looked easier to hit the target and also fired over the crossbar on the hour. At least he looked like scoring though, something he did not share with the rest of his team-mates.

Fletcher added: “We needed a spark and didn’t really have one. You can’t go through a season creating 10 or 12 chances in every game. We know we didn’t hurt them enough.”