Bournemouth 1 City 0
Report by Colin Murrant
Not even my wife knows this but I am stupidly superstitious when it comes to football. For over two years now I have home and away always entered a stadium through the furthest right turnstile, I have also avoided anything numbered 14. This gives me a dilemma at Bournemouth as the furthest right turnstile in number 14. After some deliberation, I chose to ignore avoiding 14 and keep to the right, after all it had served us well on the last two visits.
Now as repeatedly using the same turnstile may sound a bit Groundhog Dayish to most it can be no more so than the away results and performances this season. I have reported on four away matches this year and included are the away win and draw at Brugge and Spurs respectively. Apart from those two matches you could probably read any of the other away match reports from all the correspondents and think you had read it before, reports trapped in the time loop!
Approaching the little Vitality Stadium on a mild December night, I was struck by the compactness of the minute stadium, lit by the floodlights on their tall pylons. How grand and nostalgic those pylons look, now seldom seen in this age of modern stadia. The Leicester contingent were there in full, a great turnout given the very recent trip to Porto and the long journey to the South Coast on a Tuesday evening.
The team was a bit of a surprise with the press tip that Schmeichel and Drinkwater would return not materialising; how costly was Drinkwater’s inclusion in the Porto debacle. This meant the only change from Saturday’s win against Manchester City was to be Hernandez replacing the suspended Simpson at right back. If the team was virtually unchanged from Saturday then the performance was not.
However, although Bournemouth were having most of the possession, the early chance came to City and there was at this stage some encouraging interchanges between the frontmen that gave the feeling that if we could maintain possession then we could get something out of the game. One move in particular saw Vardy put through by Mahrez and rounding Boruc. Vardy’s touch was a little heavy and this took him wider than he would have wanted and, although he got his shot away Cook managed to get a touch of the ball and send it over the bar.
In the 21st minute there was a quite bizarre event when Zieler in clearing the ball from his hands, kicked the ball against Afobe, the ball ballooned up in the air and seemed to be going out for a fortuitous goal-kick until it slowed up by the corner flag. Zieler won the race to put the ball into touch although he compounded his mistake by kicking it against the hording boards rather than row ‘Z’. This gave Bournemouth the opportunity for a quick throw-in and shoot at the empty net. Luckily for City the shot missed the net comfortably with the goalkeeper hopelessly stranded.
In the 34th minute Smith broke clear of the City defence and set up Afobe. His powerful shot was beaten away by Zieler but the ball broke to Pugh who thundered a right foot shot into the top corner with the goalkeeper perhaps getting a hand on the ball. The goal was not against the run of play as Bournemouth seemed to be stronger in the tackle, faster on the breaks and better at closing down: reminiscent of City last year. At the whistle it had definitely been the home team’s half with City lacking in midfield and reliant on long balls as a result; the only consolation was that Bournemouth had created few clear cut chances.
Ranieri made one change with Ogasaki replacing Slimani as City lined up for the second half. City grew into the game and had far the better chances but squandered these through poor choices or poor finishing; even though there were several chances there did not appear to be any sustained pressure.
At one point Ogasaki broke clear with 4 city players against 3 defenders. The best option seemed to be to put Mahrez in right but with the defence retreating he chose to shoot and, although he hit it well, the ball was wide of the goal.
Late on there was a succession of corners and goalmouth scrambles aplenty but City’s shots repeatedly hit legs and bodies and eventually the ball was cleared. Boruc making an excellent save during this passage from Ulloa who had replaced Huth late on; meaning Huth’s 5th booking of the season is avoided another week
Referee Tierney had a poor game ignoring Boruc’s timewasting, whilst booking 3 City players when similar fouls by Bournemouth went unpunished. The Blue Army’s mood was not improved with the denial of at least two penalty claims, the most blatant for hand ball by Francis.
At the final whistle City had one point from 8 away matches with no real optimism in seeing this improve. The midfield had been poor again and Simpson linking up with Mahrez was sorely missed. Like Groundhog Day, the loop will break, City will win away again, our luck will change. I just can’t remember how many time Phil Connors was caught in the loop, hopefully it was the ninth when it breaks and we win at Stoke on Saturday when I will be entering the Bet365 stadium by the furthest right turnstile, and it won’t be number 14.
AFC BOURNEMOUTH: Boruc, Francis (c), Cook, Ake, Daniels, A. Smith, Arter, Wilshere, Pugh, King (Gosling 79), Afobe (Wilson 68). SUBS NOT USED: Federici, Mings, B. Smith, Ibe, Gradel.
GOAL: Pugh 34'
CITY: Zieler, Hernández, Morgan (c), Huth (Ulloa 81), Fuchs, Amartey, King, Mahrez, Albrighton (Musa 73), Slimani (Okazaki 45), Vardy. SUBS NOT USED: Hamer, Chilwell, Mendy, Gray.
REFEREE: Paul Tierney. Attendance 11068
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation