J.P.T:Bournemouth v Torquay Utd 31st Aug 2010

My fault Oz, as I was going to start this one but posts crossed and have been out. Will do one later when I get home.

Suprised that Buckle will be playing the first team in this one - would have thought that this would be an excellent opportunity to give run outs to those players on the sidelines. I have heard that there is a possibilty that one United player will be leaving this week - lets hope there is no foundation in that.

I thought Drogba was looking a bit grumpy last week ;D ;D

I would give that man a rating of 5. But I haven't got any experience of ultra-competitive sport, unless Forza Motorsport counts.

Perhaps if he does look disinterested for this one, its because he dosnt want to leave us yet?

So, here we embark on another match in a new cup competition for this season. This competition is often seen as a disturbance for fans, as it is like the league version of the Setanta Shield (which we all know was a stupid competition!). But, I think the competition's early rounds are the boring ones. If we were to progress past the opening two rounds, I think we as fans would look up, and see that we could be in with a possible shout at another Wembley appearance.

We got through to Round 2 last season, after beating Cheltenham 3-1 at Whaddon Road. We probably could have progressed in Round 2 also, after being 2-0 up at St. Marys, home of Southampton. But the League One giants came back before progressing in the shootout. A bit disappointing, but I was more worried about getting out of the bottom third at the time.

This season, we've started perfectly. The only down-side has been losing our record, but it was bound to happen soon, and on one hand, I'm glad it's done with now, as we can move on and not worry about conceding goals, as long as we score more, obviously!.

Bournemouth is our first round challenge in the Cup this time around - somewhat tougher than Cheltenham last season. Bournemouth did the double over us last season, winning 2-1 on both occasions, both courtesy of very late winners. They went on to finish 2nd in the League, which was a fantastic achievement for the club and Eddie Howe, considering the off-field battle he had to face all season long.

They have seemingly adjusted to life in League One already, and seem to be scoring goals for fun. Having drawn blanks in their opening two games (1-0 defeat to Charlton, 2-0 defeat to Southampon in the Carling Cup), they have hit back brilliantly. A 5-1 smashing of Peterborough at Dean Court got the season up and running. They followed that up with a 3-0 win at Tranmere. On Saturday, they were 3-0 up at home to Notts County, but somehow threw it away to draw 3-3 in the dying minutes. I'm hoping that that will have knocked their confidence a bit, as it is sure going to be a tough game up there tomorrow.

However, our players should be full of confidence, especially after Saturdays result. It was a great defensive display, and against a Bournemouth side without Brett Pitman, who left for Bristol City, could feel quietly confident of coming through the round. Pitmans replacement at Dean Court seems to be Josh McQuoid, who has scored 3 goals so far this season - the same as Pitman before he moved on.

From having read the Herald and our website, it sounds like Buckle is planning to send a strong side out again, which surprises me abit as they have another long journey on Saturday. I know there is a limit in the JPT which states that you have to use a certain number of your previous starting 11, but I still expect PB to give players like O'Kane and Kee starts tomorrow.

I hope we come out of it having done the best we can, which is no more than I expect from a side under Buckle, and that we have put in a good performance. I also hope that we don't get any silly bookings/sending offs or injuries, as it would be a shame to lose players in a game like this..

Come on you yellows!

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EDIT: Just seen on the BBC website that apparently McQuoid and Symes could both miss it with injury. Also, Josh Partington is on international duty, and Steve Fletcher could miss out too.

I can't imagine the Bournemouth squad having too much depth, so it looks like we could possibly be up against a fairly weakened side..