Dire performance but we go through

Having disposed of Liverpool in the previous round this was expected to be an easy enough tie to take us through again, we warned ourselves not to be complacent and we were right to. This was no easy match and without doubt the scoreline flattered us.

We were thankful in the end to Ian Moore for grabbing both goals. He might well not have scored since September but this is the FA Cup and he was back at it again taking his goal tally to twelve for the Clarets in this, his favourite competition.

Steve Cotterill made three changes from the side that was beaten at Cardiff. Richard Chaplow returned for James O’Connor whilst Lee Roche and Jean-Louis Valois both gave way for new signing John Oster and the returning Graham Branch respectively.

It all started well enough and it was all Burnley in the opening exchanges as Bournemouth struggled to get into the game at all. They offered nothing going forward whilst the Clarets were causing them problems at the back.

They looked hesitant and it did look as though they had let themselves in for a difficult afternoon. On more than one occasion they struggled to get the ball away and you sensed a relatively easy ninety minutes.

It took just seventeen minutes for us to get in front and the bookies would have been cursing for not shortening the odds on the first goalscorer being Ian Moore in an FA Cup tie. Richard Chaplow and Micah Hyde were involved in a neat move that saw Graham Branch get clear down the left and his cross was met by Moore at the far post and he headed home.

If the idea was that this would lead to a comfortable afternoon we were very much mistaken and we immediately dropped onto the back foot as the visitors came more into the game.

They started to put us under some pressure and there were some very nervous moments with the goalkeeper and back four having a difficult time communicating with each other. Possession was conceded far too often and we were beginning to make life very difficult for ourselves.

By half time were thankful to still be in front and there was much to be said and done in the dressing room to get us back into the game.

Gary Cahill - another outstanding performance

Whatever was said didn’t work and we were to have a torrid forty-five minutes although we were so unlucky not to go two up early in the second half. It would have been a stunner too as Tony Grant got free on the right hand side of the box and hit the most delicate chip which came back off the bar.

A Grant goal is a collector’s item, this one would have been something special. A 2-0 lead at that point would have probably seen us have a comfortable second half but within a minute it was almost 1-1 from a fierce shot that flew just wide.

Oster was having a difficult time on his debut and his lack of football in the last month meant he was very much out of touch, he was replace by Lee Roche but it hardly stemmed the tide as Bournemouth were getting forward more and more.

Frank Sinclair and Mo Camara in particular were being given difficult afternoons with Camara struggling to cope with Wade Elliott who was the best player on the pitch. The Bournemouth forwards just couldn’t get on the end of some of his crosses and there were times when we were at sixes and sevens in our own box.

Above all that though was a shining light in Gary Cahill. As team mates all around him were struggling he thankfully continued in the sort of form that made you wonder just why Aston Villa hadn’t called him back.

The nearest they came was a shot against the woodwork but Jensen was having as busy an afternoon as he has had all season whilst at the other end visiting keeper Moss was virtually a spectator.

For long spells we were doing no more than hanging on and as an equaliser looked to be just around the corner. Somehow though we survived and as the fourth official indicated there would be two minutes of stoppage time we looked to have seen off the worst.

And just to ensure we got the win Mooro got a second with a shot into the bottom corner from just outside the box.

That was it, we were through but it had been a difficult afternoon and the Bournemouth fans will wonder just what they have to do to record a win at Burnley. It is their twelfth game at the Turf and they have never won here, but apart from the night when they missed a penalty with David Eyres in goal, this was the time they really should have done.

It will be a long journey home for their fans after this and I’m sure we can have some sympathy for them. But I have to say that I thought the Bournemouth Chairman Peter Phillips got just what he deserved after his recent comments – and FA Cup exit in front of less than 10,000.

Monday’s draw will see the number 12 ball allocated to the Clarets and that was what this afternoon was all about – it’s another cup run.

The teams were,

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Gary Cahill, John McGreal, Mo Camra, John Oster (Lee Roche 57), Richard Chaplow (Jean-Louis Valois 90), Tony Grant, Micah Hyde, Graham Branch, Ian Moore (Joel Pilkington 90). Subs not used: Danny Coyne, Matt O’Neill.

Bournemouth: Neil Moss, Karl Broadhurst, Warren Cummings, Shaun Maher, Stephen Purches (Derek Holmes 87), Garreth O’Connor, John Spicer, Marcus Browning (Steve Fletcher 70), Wade Elliott, Brian Stock, James Hayter (Alan Connell 86). Subs not used: Gareth Stewart, Eddie Howe.

Referee: Phil Dowd (Stoke-on-Trent).

Attendance: 9,944.