FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

ENGLAND DIVISION 1
COLCHESTER UNITED - BOURNEMOUTH

These notes were written at 20.00 on Thursday.

It looks like young Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe is on his way to Burnley, after turning down several offers in the last couple of months, including approaches from both Charton and Crystal Palace in the last week. He will remain in charge of the team for tonight's match, when victory would take his side into second place in the table and I am certain that both he and they would like to end on a high note.

Recent reports of the Cherries have been fantastic, they have been passing teams to death and creating a lot of chances, the had 22 attempts on goal against Plymouth last weekend, 14 on target and eased to their third win in a row, scoring eight goals in that sequence. The job that Howe has done on the South Coast with virtually no money and being forced to sell players just to survive, has been little short of sensational and he has been on the short list for every non EPL job that becomes available. They are playing so well and creating so many chances that it is difficult to oppose them at present, even given the worry about Howe and most probably his assistant. Holland, Feeney and Pugh all made the Division 1 team of the week and form a formidable midfield that matches up well with a United team who are struggling at present .

Colchester have conceded eleven in their last three starts alone, matches which have averaged 5.33 goals, they are really having problems at the back, something that has coincided with the omission of talented Marc Tierney, who is about to make a long planned move to Norwich City in the Championship. It now appears that centre back Paul Reid is also on his way to the Championship, following an approach from Scunthorpe United and he is unlikely to be risked tomorrow, that would not help club or player, with Reid out of contract in the summer.United do not sit back at home or away and have conceded 20 in their last nine home starts against league teams, at least two in eight of those and missing two key defenders , or one with the other very distracted, it is very hard to see them suddenly tightening up this evening. At the other end of the pitch they are in the process of signing Islandic international Matthias Vilhjalmsson, but that appears to be taking a very long time. They are struggling with injuries and do not look strong enough at the back to stop anyone at present, let alone the inform Cherries. The reverse fixture saw United win by the odd goal in three, in a very open encounter where Bournemouth felt hard done by after only converting one of 17 solid chances. Something similar tonight IMO, goals again, but probably a different outcome. Two bets for me, "overs" and the away win off level ball.

Bournemouth level ball 2.08
"over" 2.5 goals 2.01

Good Luck.