Andrew Lloyd Williams reports from a rainy, blustery Vale Park.
The game got off to an encouraging start as both teams delivered balls into the box in the early exchanges; Cherries forced five corners in the first fifteen minutes but the home defence were on their guard and held firm- Martins tipped over a looping Pitman header. Ryan Garry did well to Shepard the ball away from danger as Dodds attacked down the right.
Vale came to life after twenty minutes when a Taylor cross from the left just evaded the head of Richards before Loft hit a crisp volley just over. Pitman was next to hit over the bar after Robinson held off two challenges and spread the play for the tricky Anthony Edgar. The first half hour of the game was very even, with both sides creating a few chances. The young West Ham loanee Edgar came in off the left wing to link up with Pitman and Connell on several occasions to give Bournemouth an extra dimension in attack.
Vale came desperately close to opening the scoring with a spell of sustained pressure before half time. An Owen header rattled the Bournemouth crossbar and the volley from Dodds who followed up was brilliantly parried by Jalal down to his right. As the home side continued attacking, Taylor beat Bradbury to shoot from the left but his shot rebounded off Jalal's left hand post. Next a cross from Griffiths was carried by the wind and had Jalal scrambling back to turn the ball over the bar. Cherries weathered the storm to go into the break goalless as Bradbury made a vital last minute interception to atone for his earlier error.
Cherries began the second half by winning yet ather corner, finally going on the attack themselves. Edgar, who was impressing on his debut, was in the right place at the right time to clear a dangerous cross. After 65 minutes is was the Cherries' turn to hit the post. Hollands headed out to Cummings who sent an inswinging cross into the box. A Pitman glancing header bounced against the inside of the post with Martin a mere spectator.
With fifteen minutes remaining, substitute Steve Fletcher nearly made an instant impact when his knock down had to be hacked clear. From the resulting corner, a Pearce header was cleared by Collins. As Cherries looked to sneak a win, Feeney beat Owen and Taylor to cross but could not find a red shirt. Vale nearly clinched victory with five minutes remaining when Jalal tipped over from Taylor and a cross drifted across the face of the visitors' goal. Pitman went extremely close to scoring at the death when Martin raced out to smother his shot.
As the final whistle blew at 0-0, Cherries will be relatively happy to have picked up an away point (their first draw since March) with so many men out injured.
Today's attendance was 4,905, including 253 Bournemouth fans.
Goals:
AFC Bournemouth:
Port Vale:
Yellow Cards:
AFC Bournemouth:(21 minutes) Danny Hollands, (30 minutes) Brett Pitman (75 minutes) Lee Bradbury
Port Vale: (47 minutes) Richards, (50 minutes) Owen, (83 minutes 14 Dodds)
Red Cards:
AFC Bournemouth:
Port Vale:
Substitutions:
AFC Bournemouth: (71 minutes) 33 Fletcher for 10 Connell (77 minutes) 6 Bartley for 3 Garry
Port Vale: (56 minutes) 32 Haldane for 7 Loft, (64 minutes) 28 Horsfield for 9 Richards, (86 minutes) 27 for 14 Dodds
Here are today's line-ups.
AFC Bournemouth
1) Shwan Jalal
23) Lee Bradbury
5) Jason Pearce
28) Warren Cummings
3) Ryan Garry
14) Danny Hollands
8) Anton Robinson
11) Liam Feeney
9) Brett Pitman
16) Anthony Edgar
10) Alan Connell
Substitutes: 6) Marvin Bartley, 33) Steve Fletcher, 17) Josh McQuoid
Port Vale
12) Chris Martin
4) Anthony Griffith
5) John McCombe
7) Doug Loft
9) Marc Richards
10) Tommy Fraser
14) Louis Dodds
15) Lee Collins
16) Gareth Owen
26) Kris Taylor
33) Jason Jarrett
Substitutes: 1) Joe Anyon, 2) Sam Stockley, 6) Luke Prosser, 11) Adam Yates, 27) Damien McCrory, 28) Geoff Horsfield, 32) Lewis Haldane.
