Bournemouth 1-1 Huddersfield Review

Like many other football league observers, I believed that after last season’s promotion, just surviving in League One would be a great achievement for a team like Bournemouth.

However, the way in which the team has continued to defy the odds throughout the whole season has been nothing short of remarkable, and despite losing manager Eddie Howe to Burnley earlier on this year, a top six finish was richly deserved as well as a spot in the play-offs for the chance of consecutive promotions.

At one stage even second place was a realistic possibility, although that faded away in the final few months of the season.

The play-off draw pitted the south coast club with Huddersfield, a team who were unbeaten in 25 matches prior to the match at Dean Court.

This was the first time I had seen Bournemouth play live this season, and for the opening 45 minutes, I really couldn’t fathom how they had managed to secure a top six place.

It was not just from being a goal down that I made this assessment, nor was it to do with a missed penalty from Danny Ings. It was more about their overall play; a lack of width, ideas or skill. Too many times the ball was needlessly given away under barely any pressure.

Huddersfield equally didn’t show many ideas up front, but did look solid at the back.

The second period I felt was simply do or die for the Cherries. Concede another goal and the tie was over, goodbye to any hope of promotion.

However, boss Lee Bradbury obviously gave them an army style dressing down during the interval, as his side looked a completely different outfit compared to the first half.

Confidence was high, the ball was being passed around nicely, and Bournemouth were putting some attractive moves together. A goal was needed though and it arrived thanks to a crisp left footed shot from Manchester City loanee, Donal McDermott.

A second goal would ultimately prove elusive for Bradbury’s side, but a 1-1 draw leaves the tie still very open.

There’s little doubt that going up to Huddersfield next Wednesday will be a challenging test for the Cherries, but I saw enough of them in the second half to suggest they certainly won’t be pushovers. Furthermore, Lee Clark’s men do look beatable despite still not losing a match in 2011.

Like always in a football match, the first goal is key, but if ever this is the case, Wednesday night is the time. If the first goal goes to Huddersfield, then the tie will be over. However, first goal to Bournemouth and there’s a complete change, and I reckon they could go through.

All the odds point towards Huddersfield reaching the final, and rightly so. But I wouldn’t write off the Cherries just yet.

They favoured the ‘underdog’ tag throughout the season, and quietly made their way up and nearly straight out of the division.

Despite tailing off, they’ve worked extremely hard right until the very end to ensure the chance of promotion still remains.

And they may yet have the final say.