Cherries bathe in more glory

After scorching to their fourth league win on the trot, Sean O'Driscoll's side had to use their hosts' bathing facilities as there was no cold water in the Cherries dressing room.

But not even a warmly-disputed penalty could put a damper on this latest triumph as Cherries again displayed their 'comebackability' to take maximum points.

For the second match in succession, O'Driscoll's charges responded magnificently and kept their composure after struggling opponents had taken the lead on their own patch.

Goals from Steve Fletcher and Garreth O'Connor had done the trick at Torquay, while master marksman James Hayter repeated the feat at Boundary Park.

However, while a number of Cherries' recent conquests have been captured on club DVDs, this rather dour affair rarely set the pulses racing.

But although the highlights were at a premium, the display showed O'Driscoll's troops have the stomach for a fight and also the wherewithal to win ugly.

O'Driscoll, a main contender for the October manager-of-the-month award, said: "We know it's not always going to be an upwards climb and there are going to be dips.

"I don't think we played as well as Tuesday and this was always going to be difficult.

"But it's more important when you don't play so well to be nice and solid, pick up points and win games.

"That's probably one of the hardest things to do."

O'Driscoll's opposite number Brian Talbot felt his side had "dominated" the first half, "controlled the ball, passed it well and created chances".

Talbot also said he had agreed with referee Graham Laws's decision to award his side a second-minute penalty - converted by Scott Vernon - after Shaun Maher had been judged to have handled a Kelvin Lomax cross, the ball rearing up and striking the Dubliner rather than him showing any real intent to gain an advantage.

Maher begged to differ, while O'Driscoll said: "The referee said it was the most blatant handball he had ever seen so I find that an extremely rash statement when he hasn't seen the video."

"I felt it was a bit harsh, but maybe I would," said Maher. "The ball changed direction when it bounced but I didn't raise my hands.

"I felt a bit of a nudge in the back from the centre forward and I was surprised to see the ref give a penalty."

Despite the protestations, Vernon, who netted against Cherries during a loan spell at Blackpool earlier this season, made the most of referee Laws's generosity and sent Neil Moss the wrong way from the spot to open the scoring.

Although Wade Elliott went close to equalising for Cherries with a shot which flashed past the post and also linked superbly to carve out a chance for Hayter who dragged his effort wide, O'Driscoll felt his side had "wobbled" for 10 minutes after conceding the goal.

Eddie Howe, who was like a rock at the heart of defence, charged down a shot from Vernon and then stopped the same player reloading with a timely tackle before Cherries were thankful to Moss for getting down smartly to his right to keep out an effort from David Eyres.

In a bid to counter, O'Driscoll adopted a different formation: "We changed the system after 20 minutes and were more comfortable. I like to play square pegs in square holes and to move Karl (Broadhurst) out of the middle where he's played really well and to move Neil (Young) over to left-back disjointed us."

Latics goalkeeper Les Pogliacomi had to be on his toes at his far post to tip Fletcher's header over the top after Elliott had picked him out before Hayter nodded over following good work by Young and Fletcher.

Moss and Pogliacomi both traded comfortable saves from shots by Chris Hall and O'Connor respectively, while the Cherries goalkeeper also confidently held a volleyed effort from Vernon.

Howe then became the first Cherries player to pick up a booking for nine games when he was yellow carded for an alleged foul on Kevin Betsy.

At the start of the second half, Moss was forced to punch clear from Matty Appleby's inswinging corner and also save a first-time shot from Danny Hall.

Hayter went close to equalising when he got the faintest of touches to Elliott's centre, the ball flashing agonisingly wide of Pogliacomi's left-hand post with the Latics goalkeeper beaten.

But Cherries' leading marksman found the target in the 59th minute when he registered his 10th goal of the season to fire O'Driscoll's side back on level terms.

The goal owed much to the tenacity of John Spicer, who, after beating Pogliacomi in a race to meet Elliott's through ball, rounded the Latics goalkeeper, only to see his goalbound effort blocked by defender Will Haining's saving tackle.

But as the loose ball ran to Hayter, he nonchalantly rolled it into the net from around seven yards, despite the best efforts of Haining who tried in vain to again save the day.

Talbot, who labelled his side's defending as "poor" and "terrible", was adamant Pogliacomi was at fault for the goal: "It should have been cleared by the goalkeeper, no question."

O'Driscoll, meanwhile, was delighted with Spicer's contribution: "He's got great energy and the longer the game goes on, you know he's going to get in behind the back four.

"He created the goal and James has been 'Johnny-on-the-spot' all season." Spicer also seemed a tad confused regarding the identity of the goalscorer: "I thought Wade had scored it! I didn't really know what happened after my shot had been blocked by the defender, although I knew the ball was in the back of net."

The Arsenal loan star added: "We didn't panic when we went 1-0 down because we know we've got goals in the team."

As Cherries began to assert, Spicer arrived to head Young's cross straight into the arms of Pogliacomi before Elliott robbed Lomax on the edge of the box, only to finish with a shot he would probably rather forget.

The Latics were sunk with a goal of pure quality, Hayter finishing with aplomb after he had been set free by a flick from Fletcher which was described as "great" by both goalscorer and manager.

Although the hosts huffed and puffed in the closing stages, they never threatened to blow the house down as Cherries' promotion push went into overdrive.

O'Driscoll said: "Once we got into the game, especially in the second half, we always looked like we might get an equaliser and, if we got that, we thought we could go on to win it."