Dream Baby Dream

Bournemouth v ITFC December 29th 2013

We decided to have an overnight stay in Bournemouth and make a mini break in between the Christmas and New Year holidays. As soon as we had checked into the Cliffside Hotel Sharon was eggy "I knew I should've booked something more expensive and not listened to you." We were on a bit of a budget and I thought at it was okay! I must admit though that it was like staying in an old peoples home, it had 70's decor and there were a couple of coach parties from up north, in town on a Tinsel & Turkey weekend break. Note to self - DON'T GET OLD!

Cheap and cheerful?

After coming to terms with the hotel we decided to have a walk along the seafront and into the town centre. We had a couple of drinks at night and then for a meal at Valentino's, an Italian restaurant which was very nice.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

The game on Sunday was a 3 o'clock kickoff so after a decent breakfast at the hotel we took a drive to Sandbanks before returning to Bournemouth. The weather was exceptionally nice for the end of December - sunshine and blue skies, perfect for a walk on the pier!

A "Selfie" - word of the year 2013 in the Oxford Dictionary

The Bournemouth wall

Hard to think that George Best played for the Cherries

There was a near capacity crowd of 11,096 at Dean Court aka The Goldsands Stadium, including 1,412 Town fans, a lot of them like me making their first visit there.

It was all Ipswich from the start, forcing five corners in the first seven minutes, "Another three points here" I thought. However the Cherries slowly found their rhythm and got into the game, playing some decent football. The first half flew by and ended goalless.

Daryl Murphy got on the end of a Frank Nouble cross in the fifty-ninth minute and put it past keeper Lee Camp. The lead lasted until the 74th minute when Brett Pitman slammed a loose ball into the Town net following a great save from keeper Dean Gerken.

There only looked likely to be one winner from here on in and Ipswich were somewhat fortunate four minutes later when the referee disallowed Matt Ritchie's shot, come cross, which Gerken spilled into his own net, he was deemed to have been fouled.

1-0

So it was smiles all round from the Ipswich fans at the final whistle, fair play to the hosts, they were really on the back foot early on, but finished the stronger side.

We have now played half of our matches this season and go into the new year in sixth position, what a difference from the previous four seasons where we were 19th, 19th, 18th and 19th at the years end.

Bournemouth 1-1 Ipswich

Pitman 74                                         Murphy 59

Att: 11,096

The playlist

Dream Baby Dream by Bruce Springsteen - dare we?