O'Driscoll, "We kept our composure"
Posted on: Wed 17 Nov 2004
Sean O'Driscoll gave credit to his team for keeping composure against Doncaster yesterday in far from ideal conditions. The Conference side came out to do a job, but Bournemouth weren't going to react in any adverse way to their tactics. O'Driscoll was pleased with the way his team kept playing football after the Doncaster goal and highlighted that as a reason for getting back in front again so quickly.
O'Driscoll condemned the way that Justin Jackson got himself sent off, but was impressed with the way that Doncaster never gave up and kept pushing. He said, "Up until the rain came down I thought we were in total control. We didn't finish them off and it always gives them the chance to come back into the game, which is what they did. The sending off was deserved and you can't go round doing what he did and Carl Fletcher is lucky to come away from that unscathed."
"Sometimes it gives you problems playing against ten men and fair credit to them. They had nothing to lose and kept pumping the ball forward and then the heavens opened. Our pitch drains really well and for it to flood in that short space of time was an indication of how much rain there was and I don't think the game would have finished had there not been just ten minutes to go."
Bournemouth could have been in front in the first few minutes had the referee given a penalty for a foul on Steve Fletcher. O'Driscoll was in no doubt that Fletch should have been awarded a penalty and he also talked about a few other incidents that he thought could have been dealt with better. He said, "You see incidents where you think maybe it was or maybe it wasn't, but that was a stone cold penalty for me. I'm annoyed that Warren has gone down in obvious pain and that the referee hasn't stopped the game. The Doncaster players may not have seen him as they were going forward, but common sense comes into play with the referee."
"The ball was in the middle of the pitch so the ref could have blown his whistle, sorted it out and given them the ball back. Our players get angry about it and Wade lashes it out of play so Warren can get treatment and we don't get the throw back. And at the end of the game when there was the drop ball, Garreth has said he'll knock it back to their keeper so he's left it and their guy has taken the ball off him and pumped it up field."
Doncaster threatened to take the tie into a Belle Vue reply a week on Tuesday, but Wade Elliott came up trumps to score his third of the season. In explaining how pleased he was for Wade and the rest of the team O'Driscoll said, "We've been waiting for Wade's left foot to come out the locker. We encourage him to try from that distance and he did today to great effect. He was bright all game, got more crosses in than he has for a long time and I don't think we panicked when they scored. We kept our composure, kept moving the ball and once we were in front again I couldn't really see them getting back."
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O'Driscoll condemned the way that Justin Jackson got himself sent off, but was impressed with the way that Doncaster never gave up and kept pushing. He said, "Up until the rain came down I thought we were in total control. We didn't finish them off and it always gives them the chance to come back into the game, which is what they did. The sending off was deserved and you can't go round doing what he did and Carl Fletcher is lucky to come away from that unscathed." "Sometimes it gives you problems playing against ten men and fair credit to them. They had nothing to lose and kept pumping the ball forward and then the heavens opened. Our pitch drains really well and for it to flood in that short space of time was an indication of how much rain there was and I don't think the game would have finished had there not been just ten minutes to go."
Bournemouth could have been in front in the first few minutes had the referee given a penalty for a foul on Steve Fletcher. O'Driscoll was in no doubt that Fletch should have been awarded a penalty and he also talked about a few other incidents that he thought could have been dealt with better. He said, "You see incidents where you think maybe it was or maybe it wasn't, but that was a stone cold penalty for me. I'm annoyed that Warren has gone down in obvious pain and that the referee hasn't stopped the game. The Doncaster players may not have seen him as they were going forward, but common sense comes into play with the referee."
"The ball was in the middle of the pitch so the ref could have blown his whistle, sorted it out and given them the ball back. Our players get angry about it and Wade lashes it out of play so Warren can get treatment and we don't get the throw back. And at the end of the game when there was the drop ball, Garreth has said he'll knock it back to their keeper so he's left it and their guy has taken the ball off him and pumped it up field."
Doncaster threatened to take the tie into a Belle Vue reply a week on Tuesday, but Wade Elliott came up trumps to score his third of the season. In explaining how pleased he was for Wade and the rest of the team O'Driscoll said, "We've been waiting for Wade's left foot to come out the locker. We encourage him to try from that distance and he did today to great effect. He was bright all game, got more crosses in than he has for a long time and I don't think we panicked when they scored. We kept our composure, kept moving the ball and once we were in front again I couldn't really see them getting back."
**********************
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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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