Cherries: Bosses disagree on destination of points

RIVAL managers Eddie Howe and Sammy McIlroy begged to differ on the destiny of the points following Cherries' 1-0 win over Morecambe on Saturday. Shrimps boss McIlroy felt his side had deserved a share of the spoils, while Howe thought Cherries' display had merited more goals than Anton Robinson's first-half decider. Robinson bagged his maiden strike at Dean Court when he slotted home the loose ball from just inside the 18-yard box after the visitors had failed to clear Lee Bradbury's throw. McIlroy said: I was disappointed. I thought we did enough to get a point from the game. I'm not going to say we did enough to win it but it was an even game. I thought both sides tried to play on a bit of a lively pitch. We were disappointed with their goal because my lads complained there had been a high boot on Will Haining in the build up but the referee allowed it to stand. We hit the post and had a few close shaves and were disappointed to come away with nothing. It's a hard place to come. They are second in the league and doing very well so we can take credit from it. I thought we competed well against them. Everyone was talking about the 5-0 at our place and how they were going to try to do that to us but that never looked on the cards. My lads rolled up their sleeves and battled with them and we're going home a little disappointed we didn't get at least a point. Asked whether he felt Morecambe had deserved a draw, Howe replied: No, but maybe I'm biased. I didn't think they did enough to get a point and I thought we did more than enough to get more goals. I thought we performed ever so well in the first half. We started really brightly and passed the ball well. It was a similar pattern to the Barnet game where we didn't score and you just felt we deserved to be one or two in front at half-time. But we stuck to our guns. The second half wasn't as pretty but it was effective so we were delighted with the win. The second half was a little bit scrappy but I still felt we had enough opportunities to make the game safe. We were disappointed we didn't get a second goal and I didn't think we worked their keeper enough. I know they hit the outside of the post but I can't recall our keeper having a serious save to make. I thought we were fluent and I can't praise the players highly enough. ¢ Joe Partington is set to feature for Cherries' reserves at Forest Green Rovers tonight (7pm). Partington, who can play in central midfield or defence, could hand boss Eddie Howe a timely boost if he comes through the Combination clash. Cherries are short of options at centre-half after captain Jason Pearce was ruled out for at least three weeks with a fractured toe. Fellow defenders Shaun Cooper and Scott Guyett have been long-term injury victims.

Source: Bournemouth_Echo