Wycombe: The Opposition View

Following Wycombe’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth yesterday afternoon, here are some views from Cherries’ manager Eddie Howe and a few of their fans.



The Cherries new manager spoke to his club’s official website: ‘I’m absolutely delighted with all the boys. I thought all eleven and the substitutes were exceptional today and there were some great performances out there.’

‘We started the game well but the goal we conceded was a setback. In previous games, conceding a goal has affected us but it didn’t today.’

‘Brett scored a great free-kick which lifted everyone and then we forced the game and deserved to be in the lead.’

The new boss brought the club’s longest serving player, Steve Fletcher, back from Crawley Town just in time to play against Wycombe and he was pleased with the veteran’s contribution:

‘I thought Fletch was immense and that’s why I brought him back to the club. He was on to the other players constantly to keep them working. He wants to get Bournemouth out of trouble because he cares deeply about this club.’

‘I’m delighted to get my first win as a manager. The second half seemed to go on forever, but it was thoroughly deserved.’




The Cherries fans were over the moon. The new boss is a former player, another hero returned to the club and played centre forward and to cap it all off, they beat the league-leaders. They didn’t think much of us though.

The following extracts are taken from ‘Vital Bournemouth’, ‘Football Forums’, ‘The Football Forum’, BBC606 and ‘The Bournemouth Echo’.



GaryafCb wrote:
‘It does make the whole football experience a little better when you have a team who are trying. Great stuff today.’



Lord Snooty wrote:
‘A fine victory. And as our brave warriors took the plaudits of the crowd, Eddie gathered them in a team huddle. Comradeship, Passion and true team bonding. It made me proud….and as I descended the steps of the East Stand with moist eyes…I saw a wet glint in many an eye. We were superb today.’



fritter wrote:
‘In the first half their number 8 ran the game, he was always in space, passes always accurate. It was surprising that no-one sat on him. It was a masterclass in creating space. Second half, we marked him so well they took him off.’



Jimnnina wrote:
‘AFCB ran the game, Wycombe were passing for the sake of it, AFCB defended from the front.’



xnoddyx wrote:
‘The key thing today was belief, we went behind but got ourselves back in to it and we never ever let Wycombe settle on the ball.’



paul49 wrote:
‘I would like to see a replay of the Wycombe goal. From where I was sitting right behind the goal and at the back of the North Stand the ball never looked completely over the line.’



Red-Dez wrote:
‘For the free-kick goal, I was watching the wall and remarking that their goalkeeper’s position meant he surely couldn’t see Brett striking the ball, so he only needed to make sure he hit the target to score.’



mistymountgollum wrote:
‘Wycombe had a good spell a couple of times in the second half, playing some very neat, one-touch football but were lucky not to concede more goals. Bournemouth were worthy winners and will now go on an unbeaten run, culminating in winning the play-off final at Wembley in May!’



Pazz AFCB wrote:
‘Great performance. Fully deserved the 3-1 win, pressured Wycombe and made them lose the ball a lot. Highlight of the day apart from the result.. Wycombe fans singing ‘stand up if you’re 1-0 up’ and us doing ‘stand up if you’re 2-1 up’ not long after. Faces on their fans – priceless. They were pretty average as a team I thought, might well bottle it but have the ability to stay in the top 3. Best team won on the day.’



AFBC_Nutter wrote:
‘We even gave Wycombe a head start and we still never looked like losing. That’s the first time in at least 2 years that we’ve won a game from going 1 down. Wycombe were quite poor, giving the ball away so much. They looked slack at the back and had little imagination to break us down.’



Mark_AFBC wrote:
‘How the **** are Wycombe top? we even gave them a goal head start and they still wilted under the pressure we put on them. We could have had a couple more, Wycombe had one shot saved and one or two heart in mouth moments with penalty area pinball, but never put a proper move together to break us down.’



danny b wrote:
‘Great to see the lads showing a bit more desire and fight. Have to say though, did we make them look as average as they looked today or is it a measure of the poor standard of the league we are in?’



Chubby_Cherry wrote:
‘Has there ever been a more dominant heading display by a striker in a game? If it wasn’t for the ref, Fletcher would have won every header.’



And Finally…



Aussie_AFCB wrote:
‘Surely the game is worth putting on DVD? Return of Fletch, Eddie`s first game as manager, a thumping win against the league leaders, passion, pride?a box office winner, a best seller guaranteed to make some dosh for AFCB. I`d buy one.’

I Wouldn’t.