Wednesday 11 December 2013

Things are looking better for AFCB

Eddie Howe has got the formula right away from home against one of the top teams now and he can build from here. Up until Saturday, Wigan were the only team in the Championship that the Cherries had beaten who were higher than them in the table. With Reading's defeat the belief among the AFCB players should now be boosted. They have done it against a team who were undefeated at home and who were a Premiership club like Wigan only a season ago.


Spirits should be high at the Goldsands stadium after the latest win.
When you think about it, AFCB have beaten two of the teams who had a split of the parachute payments from the Premiership last year. I might be wrong, but I think it was something like £80m between Reading, Wigan and QPR. Meanwhile, AFCB has a top spending record of about £2.5m on one player. AFCB should not be able to do as well as they have on paper, but the game is played on the pitch and when the Cherries get their tactics right they now know they can beat the best teams in the Championship.

There is a good mood in the camp. You can see it when players score, when they huddle before and even after the match at Reading game. I am very excited about this squad because they want to achieve. Eddie Howe knows they want to be successful and he is adding more to their game all the time. The learning curve though is steep and there will be more lows along the way, but the togetherness is something that I don't see in many other teams in the Championship.


AFCB in the group huddle after the Reading win.
What's more AFCB have some good players who still have not had a taste of the Championship yet and who will be really excited to get their chance. I am taking here of players like Mohamed Coulibaly, Wes Fogden and Joe Partington. Josh McQuiod is likely to be a great addition if he has fully recovered and is able to perform like he was when he very first broke on to the scene a couple of years ago. It was good to hear that Partington and McQuoid played against a QPR eleven yesterday as they near a return.

Far from looking gloomy and at the bottom places in the league, AFCB fans are now looking upwards again and looking to see who they can catch. That change in attitude has all come about from the Reading game and the huge following AFCB brought to the match. The slogan of 'Anything is possible' was so well chosen, because AFCB fans can see that this could turn into a dream season in the Championship that will hopefully be followed by another one. 

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