O'Driscoll not worried about the pressure
Posted on: Wed 17 Nov 2004
Bournemouth have moved within a point of the leaders Hartlepool and Torquay with a win over the former this afternoon. Four wins in five with the league position makes the Cherries a team to beat at the moment, but O'Driscoll isn't concerned about the pressure. He's stated that's it's just nice to get away from all the negative pressure and that the wins are restoring belief amongst his players.
A massive point in the game for Cherries fans was the introduction of Steve Fletcher. He nearly came on before Elliott snatched an equaliser and despite the team having levelled O'Driscoll said, "I had a mind to put Steve on anyway. The crowd were calling his name and he'd been away for almost a year."
"We were a goal down when I decided to bring him on and we had to get two goals back and when he did come on it did give everyone a lift. I thought we went route-one a bit and was disappointed that we didn't use other options when maybe we should have done, but alls well that ends well."
A second red card was brandished at The Fitness First stadium this afternoon, but this time the boot was on the other foot with the opposition being reduced to ten men. O'Driscoll said, "We've played with ten men before this season against Bury and managed to dominate and we know that if it's played the right way, it can be difficult to play against ten men. Today we were against ten men having to chase the game and they thought they had enough to keep us out and were very nearly proved right."
He went on to say how the change of pressure is a positive, but warned that the lads mustn't get complacent with the winning run despite having to remain confident. O'Driscoll said, "I thought the first goal relaxed us a little bit. The pressure has always been there with no money, the embargo and we're on a ten game 'if you don't do this you're out', so being up the top of the table and a team to beat is nice pressure."
"We've had a lot of negative pressure before and the players are delighted. We think we can do well in this division and we've always felt that and it's about getting that belief around the players and that comes from winning games, which we've been doing of late. The thing we have to guard against now is complacency. There is a fine line between confidence and complacency and we've got to make sure we have the confidence without the complacency."
Liam Ridgewell was drafted in on a month long loan deal from Aston Villa this week and O'Driscoll explained the difficulties ahead for a team with few resources and talked on his decision to name and un-changed starting eleven from Lincoln last week. He said, "We're not the side with the biggest resources and that will be a problem for us all season. We've got away with losing our two central defenders for two games and people have come in to do a good job."
"We will struggle with injuries in key positions like most teams and Hartlepool are the same with Gordon Watson. All the players train together so that helps the experience of working as a team no matter who is playing and it was touch and go whether to play Liam from the start."
"He's only trained with us once and it may have been a bit unfair to throw him into a game like this. One mistake could have shattered his confidence, but he's here for a full month and he'll definitely be used during that time."
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A massive point in the game for Cherries fans was the introduction of Steve Fletcher. He nearly came on before Elliott snatched an equaliser and despite the team having levelled O'Driscoll said, "I had a mind to put Steve on anyway. The crowd were calling his name and he'd been away for almost a year." "We were a goal down when I decided to bring him on and we had to get two goals back and when he did come on it did give everyone a lift. I thought we went route-one a bit and was disappointed that we didn't use other options when maybe we should have done, but alls well that ends well."
A second red card was brandished at The Fitness First stadium this afternoon, but this time the boot was on the other foot with the opposition being reduced to ten men. O'Driscoll said, "We've played with ten men before this season against Bury and managed to dominate and we know that if it's played the right way, it can be difficult to play against ten men. Today we were against ten men having to chase the game and they thought they had enough to keep us out and were very nearly proved right."
He went on to say how the change of pressure is a positive, but warned that the lads mustn't get complacent with the winning run despite having to remain confident. O'Driscoll said, "I thought the first goal relaxed us a little bit. The pressure has always been there with no money, the embargo and we're on a ten game 'if you don't do this you're out', so being up the top of the table and a team to beat is nice pressure."
"We've had a lot of negative pressure before and the players are delighted. We think we can do well in this division and we've always felt that and it's about getting that belief around the players and that comes from winning games, which we've been doing of late. The thing we have to guard against now is complacency. There is a fine line between confidence and complacency and we've got to make sure we have the confidence without the complacency."
Liam Ridgewell was drafted in on a month long loan deal from Aston Villa this week and O'Driscoll explained the difficulties ahead for a team with few resources and talked on his decision to name and un-changed starting eleven from Lincoln last week. He said, "We're not the side with the biggest resources and that will be a problem for us all season. We've got away with losing our two central defenders for two games and people have come in to do a good job."
"We will struggle with injuries in key positions like most teams and Hartlepool are the same with Gordon Watson. All the players train together so that helps the experience of working as a team no matter who is playing and it was touch and go whether to play Liam from the start."
"He's only trained with us once and it may have been a bit unfair to throw him into a game like this. One mistake could have shattered his confidence, but he's here for a full month and he'll definitely be used during that time."
**********************
Cherriesbet.co.uk - Your one stop call for all betting. Every punt helps AFCB.
Mobile Zone - Be the first to know the news with SMS updates from the club.
Weekly newsletter - The best of weekly content, direct to your mailbox.
Site Map - What we offer, where to find it and when it's updated.
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