London Saints

Bournemouth Away Drew 0 – 0

Fine weather for a first ever Premier League visit to Bournemouth on a Saturday afternoon, but what went on on the pitch singularly failed to match up to the occasion. The home side had a great opportunity in the very first minute when no-one in the Saints defence seemedprepared to halt Smith’s run from deep, but not all of us witnessed this moment of action thanks to AFCB’s over-zealous security arrangements. Not long afterwards, we were beginning to get a pretty shrewd idea about where the game would feature in Match of the Day’s running order; the BBC may even have been considering a special insomniac edition to be aired long after midnight purely for south coast fans. To be talking like that is actually to the visitors’ credit as the Cherries had managed 16 goals in theirsix previous Vitality Stadium games this season (it’s Dean Court really, isn’t it?) but Southampton’s two banks of four proved as rigid as the men on a table football game. Unfortunately they are as likely to get forward as a set of plastic figures stuck to a rod and we have now gone four Premier League games without a goal, never mind a win, but at least there was a point to show for this latest outing. It was always going to be important to make the most of what opportunities came our way, but Austin’s control let him down when he got away from Ake and Armstrong hesitated fatally when another substitute, Long, headed the ball down to him. Best chance of all fell to the third introduction, Gabbiadini, in the very last minute of added time when Begović misjudged across, but his header towards an unguarded net went over the bar. Bournemouth’s opportunities were less clear cut, but neither goalkeeper was forced into a meaningful save across the 90 minutes, although Højbjerg stung Begović’s palms from distance.6th by

LSSC Man of the Match: Wesley Hoedt, pretty well unanimously praised from those I asked… and many of whom never thought they’d be saying something like that.

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