Not for the first time in his 10 years with Bournemouth, that friendly character Tommy Godwin was cheered every time he touched the ball in last night's match with West Ham. But this time the applause and cheers of the supporters were not just for good saves, or brave saves, but in order to show their favourite Irishman how much they appreciated his contribution to their football club during the past decade.
For the record, the 7,422 crowd had its moneys worth in a match which displayed at times the niceties of soccer, the class of certain individuals and the essential camaraderie of the players, plus seven goals,
Unfortunately only two of them fell to Boscombe who were 3-0 down in the first 15 minutes, thanks to some defensive misunderstandings and the quickness of thought and action of the First Division players. West Ham moved the ball more quickly and certainly on the hard, bumpy in places Dean Court pitch but Boscombe gradually carne more into the picture so that they were rather unlucky to be trailing 4-1 at the interval,
In the second half Boscombe made the changes, bringing in John Arnott at centre half, Brian Gibbs at inside right and Peter Thompson at centre-forward.