Cherries: Bradbury's men set to fly north

LEE Bradbury's high-flying Cherries will take to the skies for their long-haul trip to Carlisle United on Saturday. Chairman Eddie Mitchell has given the green light to chartering a private plane for the crucial League One clash with the Cumbrians. Bradbury's squad will leave Bournemouth International Airport on Friday lunchtime for the 70-minute flight to Newcastle. And following a short cross-country coach journey, they will stay overnight near Carlisle in readiness for the Brunton Park showdown. Bradbury told the Daily Echo: It is great news and brilliant that the club are doing it for us to give us the best possible chance against Carlisle. The alternative is a long coach journey and I think Carlisle use it to their advantage when teams travel as far as us, perhaps like we do. It is vitally important that we prepare correctly and don't have the players sitting on the coach for hours getting stiff legs and backs. We are trying to do it the right way and it is great that the club has backed us and are letting us do it this way. We are really pleased. Despite being beaten 3-1 when they flew to Carlisle in April 2007, the Cherries squad travelled on the day of the game and left Bournemouth at the crack of dawn. Mitchell said: It can be a bumpy ride up there on the coach and we owe it to the players to have them correctly prepared. This is a thank you to them for their dedication.

Source: Bournemouth_Echo