IT WAS meant to be the Millennium Mark II.

A sea of red and black banners and flags to welcome the Sky Sports cameras to Dean Court and replicate the last time Cherries wowed the nation's armchair fans with their stylish brand of free-flowing football.

The possibilities of a seven-goal feast being served up against an entertaining side who themselves experienced the tension of the play-offs last term but ultimately whose Division One aspirations were put on hold until at least next spring.

Add the spice of Marcus Browning and City defender Tony Butler going head-to-head, in the non-literal sense of course, for the first time since the now infamous alleged LDV Vans head-butting fiasco in January and it was all set up to be a classic.

Even Sean O'Driscoll seemed to have read the script as the Cherries boss fielded the same starting 11, minus loanee Phil Gulliver and plus Karl Broadhurst, that trounced Lincoln City 5-2 in Cardiff just three and a bit months ago.

The ingredients were all there, even most of the chefs were the same, but somewhere along the line things went flat.

What had the potential to be an A1 advert for Nationwide League Division Two ended up as a reason to take advantage of the early kick-off and go shopping before the England game was on.

In fairness to both sides it wasn't for the want of trying.

In fact, at times both teams seemed hell bent on proving who could pass the ball better than Brazil.

It was just that while the intentions were good, the spectacle was not.

The fluid passing and movement associated with both teams was replaced by something akin to a spluttering, old tap. And when you can count the number of times either goalkeeper had to actually make a save - not control a back pass or punch away a corner, but a real life save - on one hand, you know it has been an iffy afternoon.

On the positive side, Cherries kept their second clean sheet in succession and prevented City from finding the net for the first time this campaign.

Meanwhile, sponsors' man-of-the-match Browning produced a performance against City that will be remembered for all the right reasons and he even managed not to get booked!

Cherries' defensive Carl and Karl Show also deserved recognition for keeping £600,000 striker Lee Peacock, the division's top scorer going into the game, from adding to his haul.

But as stalemates go, this was a bit stale. Two sides that could not have cancelled each other out more if they started swapping players midway through the match.

It was Danny Wilson's Robins who escalated the first assault on the opposition goal when after Peacock put Neils Young and Moss under pressure, Moss' weak clearance fell kindly at the feet of Luke Wilkshire 25-yards out.

But the former Middlesbrough youngster, signed from Boro over the summer, failed to connect properly making Moss' job easy.

Cherries' best creative outlet in the first-half came through Warren Cummings and Garreth O'Connor combining on the left. But frustratingly when the ball did make its way into the box, all too frequently it failed to find a target.

Watching Steve Fletcher continually out-jump Butler provided an entertaining aside as the City man was made to pay for not head-butting Browning earlier this year. That was not, by the way.

And veteran midfielder Brian Tinnion drove low into Moss's arms from 25-yards just minutes after Wade Elliott had fired over at the opposite end.

Carl Fletcher stepped in with what has become an almost trademark perfectly-timed tackle to prevent Peacock getting an effort away following Wilkshire's exquisite pass while O'Connor could not find the shot to match his trickery on the edge of the box. The Cherries skipper was unlucky to find himself in referee Trevor Parkes' notebook on 35 after a comparatively innocuous challenge on Aaron Brown.

And Cherries had a let-off from the resultant free-kick as an unmarked Peacock nodded wide of Moss' left upright from Wilkshire's delivery.

Karl Broadhurst chalked up some crucial points with Sky's man-of-the-match panel when Tinnion slipped a perfect throughball between Carl Fletcher and Neil Young only for Broadhurst to rob Peacock virtually on the goalline after Brown had crossed.

Stephen Purches then squandered Cherries' best chance of the opening 45 minutes having been put clear by Elliott, Purches' fierce rising drive was tipped over by Steve Phillips. Then to cap a half just shaded by his team-mates, Butler won a header!

City attacked the second-half in much the same way as they did the first - piling forward but without mustering many genuine goal attempts.

But the most obvious difference after the break was Cherries' inability to find that extra gear.

After Christian Roberts had headed over inside the opening 60 seconds, O'Connor and Cummings combined for arguably the host's best move of the match.

Cummings rolled the ball out to O'Connor before charging past the Irishman on the overlap and providing Browning with an easy pass after O'Connor had played the ball straight to the Bristol-born midfielder.

Cummings then laid the ball square to O'Connor on the edge of he box but unable to shoot with his favoured right-foot the ball subsequently broke for Elliott who fired inches wide from 25-yards.

City had what looked a clear case for a penalty rejected after Carl Fletcher handled in the box only for Mr Parkes to rule the captain's indiscretion as accidental.

Joe Burnell and Peacock later both failed to find the target with headers.

But Steve Fletcher almost secured maximum points for Cherries eight minutes from time when his looping effort from Danny Thomas' cross dropped agonisingly onto the roof of the net.