7:00am Monday 8th February 2010
By Neil Perrett
BOSS Eddie Howe wants his Jekyll-and-Hyde Cherries charges to rediscover their killer instinct and creativity |at Dean Court – and fast.
Howe looked on as Cherries failed to break their 2010 home win duck after being held to a dismal 0-0 draw by League Two strugglers Cheltenham on Saturday.
The instantly-forgettable stalemate followed convincing away wins at Crewe and Rotherham as Cherries again came unstuck in front of their own supporters.
Howe, who felt his side had looked “leggy” and “lacking a spark”, was left to rue a missed opportunity as Cherries extended their winless home run to three games.
“It just didn’t happen for us in the attacking half,” said Howe. “We know we can do a lot better.
“We needed a bit more patience and guile to try to open them up. Some of our balls into the box were of a poor quality and we definitely didn’t test their goalkeeper enough.
“We got better the longer the game went on and played our best football towards the end when they were clinging on.
“But, for whatever reason, we’ve had similar problems at home in terms of opening up teams and creating chances. It’s something we need to put right quickly because the games come and go quickly.”
Howe resisted using mitigating circumstances as an excuse. Cheltenham arrived at Dean Court following an enforced two-week layoff, while Cherries were contesting their third game in eight days.
He said: “Cheltenham looked quite bright early on and, although you could put that down to a number of things, we’re definitely not going to use it as an excuse. We should have performed better than we did.
“I’m our worst critic and think we can do a lot better but there are reasons why we’re not performing at full speed in every game.”
However, Cherries’ mounting injury crisis forced Howe to field stricken pair Lee Bradbury (flu) and Steve Fletcher (back), while substitute Marvin Bartley managed only 28 minutes before he hobbled off with a recurrence of his calf problem.
Howe said: “Marvin was 100 per cent fit and I would never put someone on the pitch who may run the risk of doing themselves serious harm. I don’t want it to come across as an excuse, but we do have issues and a number of players are struggling.
“We reluctantly played Fletch because we felt that if he could give us a good 45 to 60 minutes, we would have had a better chance to win the game.”
Howe added: “Football doesn’t always run predictably or smoothly and I am sure there are going to be many more twists and turns.
“We were disappointed not to win because we felt we had a good opportunity to follow up two good away performances.”
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