Cherries: Finishing on a high 'imperative' for Lee

06 May 2011 07:00
BOSS Lee Bradbury wants his Cherries players to finish with a flourish when they bring down the curtain on a memorable League One campaign.[LNB] Bradbury is keen for Cherries to take momentum into the play-offs and says they will be targeting fifth place when they host Rochdale tomorrow.[LNB] Victory for Cherries over ninth-placed Dale, coupled with defeat for MK Dons at Oldham, would see Bradbury's troops meet Peterborough in the semi-finals.[LNB] Alternatively, should Cherries fail to win or were the Dons to avoid defeat at Boundary Park, the Dorset outfit would almost certainly face Huddersfield.[LNB] Bradbury told the Daily Echo: We want to finish as high as we can. We will be trying to win the game and finish fifth. It will be business as usual for us and we won't take our foot off the pedal.[LNB] It is imperative we go into the play-offs having performed well in our previous games. I don't want us to rest on our laurels. I want us to work hard and do all the right things.[LNB] Irrespective of their semi-final opponents, Bradbury says Cherries will be buoyed by their record against all the top teams in League One when they contest the play-offs.[LNB] While neighbours Southampton did the double over Cherries, MK Dons were the only other team in the top five to beat them as Eddie Howe and then Bradbury enjoyed decent fortunes against the big guns.[LNB] They lowered the colours of eventual champions Brighton at Dean Court and also recorded home wins over Peterborough and MK Dons, while only a late leveller denied them victory over Huddersfield. Cherries also drew on the road with the Seagulls, the Terriers and Posh.[LNB] Bradbury said: We will take a lot of confidence from our record against the other teams at the top. We scored eight goals against Peterborough and drew twice with Huddersfield.[LNB] All the positives point in our direction. Someone said we had sneaked into the play-offs but we have been there for most of the season.[LNB] Anything can happen and it is down to who performs on the day over the two legs in the semi-final. We will be going into the games with no fear and want to push on and win promotion.[LNB] We have come a lot further than a lot of teams this season and can be proud of what we have achieved so far. But, at the same time, we are not taking our foot off the pedal.[LNB] We had a dip in results and could have slid down the table and out of contention. But we showed the character to come back and kept getting positive results. Our fighting qualities were there for everybody to see during the second half against Bristol Rovers. Everybody wants to be successful and everybody wants to try to get in the history books at this club.[LNB] Hampshire youth cup winners Greenfields will provide a guard of honour' at tomorrow's match. The under-11s beat BYL rivals BS Grange 2-1 in the final last month.[LNB]

Source: Bournemouth_Echo