Cherries: Cooper's quality shines through for Howe

29 March 2010 07:00
EVERY team should have a Shaun Cooper. Just ask Eddie Howe. Or Sean O'Driscoll.[LNB] It was O'Driscoll who first suggested Cooper could become one of the best players ever to wear the red and black shirt.[LNB] That was back in the mid-noughties, before hip surgery robbed the Isle of Wight man of 11 months of his career.[LNB] On Saturday, with a familiar acute player shortage hampering Howe's selection, Cooper walked back into the starting 11 with just 45 minutes of reserve team football under his belt this season.[LNB] His performance was nothing short of remarkable and Howe knew it.[LNB] He was outstanding, said the Cherries boss. From start to finish he looked like he had never been out.[LNB] He's a great player and brings us composure on the ball. He's a really good defender and we're delighted to have him back.[LNB] Howe, quite rightly when you consider this football club's past woes, has never been one for over-hyping anything, but his reaction to questions on Cooper suggested he was waiting for the chance to big-up his new signing.[LNB] Cooper, though, was more scathing when asked about his own contribution to three points that thrust Cherries firmly back into the promotion picture.[LNB] There were times when I was quite tired, but I got through it, Cooper said afterwards.[LNB] The injury is not 100 per cent, but I feel better now than I have for three years.[LNB] But if I hadn't been out injured for 11 months, I would have been very angry with the way I played today.[LNB] Either he was watching a different game, or the best part of a year on the sidelines had simply clouded his judgement.[LNB] Aside from one glaring stray pass, Cooper barely put a foot wrong alongside emerging centre-half Marvin Bartley, with the Cherries back four as a unit not giving Accrington a sniff all afternoon.[LNB] In truth, Howe's men will not bag an easier three points for the rest of the season after Stanley turned up at Dean Court and unloaded 11 sofas off the coach. The victory was that comfortable.[LNB] The stats, however, don't lie and, with the greatest of respect to Cooper and Bartley, three shots on target against a makeshift defender and a man who had barely kicked a ball for a year would have made for grim reading when John Coleman picked up his Sunday paper.[LNB] One wonders whether Stanley forwards Robert Grant and Billy Kee got the brunt of the shouting coming from the visiting dressing room following the final whistle, for their long haul down the M6 and beyond was a wasted journey.[LNB] Cooper and Bartley were all but flawless under Stanley's half-baked aerial assault and when Coleman's men did get the ball on the deck, they were undone by the duo's uncompromising desire to win possession and their class and composure in distribution.[LNB] In short, the visitors had no answer and no way through.[LNB] Liam Feeney gave Coleman's defence a torrid time and deservedly opened the scoring after 18 minutes, although Brett Pitman will shake his head when he grabs his copy of the Echo and reaches this paragraph.[LNB] Danny Hollands's long throw had the Stanley defence all at sea and Feeney, unchallenged, was on hand to twist and bury a right-foot shot past Ian Dunbavin into the bottom corner.[LNB] At the other end, referee Graham Scott rightly waved away Stanley's appeals for a penalty after Bartley's challenge on Kee, while James Ryan could only scuff his shot wide of Shwan Jalal's post moments later.[LNB] That was all the visitors had to show for a woeful 45 minutes on their part and things could have been a whole lot worse had Lee Bradbury kept down a 39th-minute volley that flew just inches over Danbavin's bar.[LNB] It did get better for Stanley after the restart, with Ryan blasting over during a spell of real pressure on Howe's back four.[LNB] Referee Scott then took centre stage once again just before the hour mark when he turned down what appeared to be a very good shout for a penalty following a clumsy challenge from Darren Kempson on Anton Robinson.[LNB] But despite that decision, Howe's troops were galvanised and Stanley's brief attacking threat was nullified.[LNB] Dunbavin completed a miserable afternoon for the visitors when he pushed Feeney's 79th-minute screamer on to his bar before looking on helplessly as the ball fell for Pitman to complete the scoring with a simple tap-in.[LNB] A downtrodden Coleman, who emerged from the dressing room at 6pm, revealed in his post-match press conference that he had just 19 fit players to choose from ahead of tomorrow's clash against Barnet and on the evidence of this performance, you wouldn't wish such a selection on your worst enemy.[LNB] It was a case of onwards and upwards again for Howe, though. Like Coleman, he might not have the numbers, but what he does have in his squad is quality over quantity and willingness in abundance.[LNB] Just ask Shaun Cooper.[LNB]

Source: Bournemouth_Echo