Moyes' Programme Notes For Bournemouth Clash

Welcome back to Hill Dickinson Stadium for our latest midweek fixture in the Premier League.

It’s a quick turnaround after a very good result for us down at Fulham.

Our journey back from Craven Cottage was a very enjoyable one after three valuable points at this stage of the season. I thought our performance overall was certainly worthy of getting something and the result was really important to keep us in the top half of the table.

I would like to say a huge thank you to our travelling support in London. Your voices were clearly heard and the players really appreciate your support, as do I. We want to keep our good away record going right to the end of the season and make sure we can return to the form we were showing at the start of the season here at Hill Dickinson.

The last time I spoke to you, we had just come away from here with a 1-1 draw against Leeds United.

It was a difficult night but we rescued an important point from the game and in the end were unlucky not to take all three.

The fact we came away with some reward on a night when not everything went our way was important.

The same could be said for our trip to Brighton, where we all travelled down hoping to take something from the match but in the end had to wait until the last kick of the game for Beto to get us an equaliser.

Again, I felt it was a really important point to keep us in touch with the teams who have a chance of qualifying for Europe.

The last-minute equaliser also saw incredible celebrations behind the goal and everyone was clearly really pleased to see Beto score such an important goal.

It also caused big celebrations off the bench, with me finding myself halfway across the pitch. I felt the moment was worthy of such a reaction.

Unfortunately, that meant I missed being in the dugout at the Fulham game.

Moments like this are spontaneous. Being a football manager has lots of good things about it, and also lots of bad things – but being a manager whose team gets a goal in the last minute, whether it’s to win or to draw, is always a big moment.

Moments like that can change the entire narrative of how your football club is perceived and it is so important.

It’s disappointing we are taking so many of these big emotional moments out of football. We see it regularly when goals are scored and we have to wait a certain amount of time before we get the decision. We feel that by the time it comes, that moment between players and fans has gone while we are left hanging on.

Some celebrations by players and managers have become an iconic part of football’s history. Mine certainly won’t!

Tonight we welcome Andoni Iraola and his Bournemouth side to Hill Dickinson Stadium. He has had an incredibly good start to his managerial career and he has become very popular by the way his teams play and the results he has achieved.

Every three points in the Premier League is hard fought and we are expecting a close game.

We welcomed a new face to the squad in the January transfer window bringing in Tyrique George on loan from Chelsea. He made his debut at Fulham on Saturday and he will get other opportunities between now and the end of the season to show us his levels.

I mentioned in several of our programme notes leading into January that it is not an easy window and once again we tried for several players but found it difficult to get them, whether that was availability, cost, or players simply choosing not to move. All these things play a part in getting new players in.

I do feel every window represents an opportunity to try to make progress so let’s hope that Tyrique can help us between now and the end of the season.

If this game was at Goodison on a Tuesday evening, the opposition would know exactly what to expect and as the home manager I would also know what to expect.

I hope we can do enough on the pitch to make sure you supporters are fully behind us. How we play has always been the key to getting good support but while we are finding our way into the new stadium, that little bit extra from you all can go a long way to helping us.

Enjoy the game.

David