Bournemouth Fan View: Manchester United point well earned for Cherries

Yes, despite only having three shots to Manchester United’s twenty – and 32% possession – I think my AFC Bournemouth side deserved a point from our eventful trip to Manchester this weekend. Want to make something of it?

There are several reasons why I think this though. I’m not just spoiling for a fight, as much fun as that might be.

The first is that we showed some bottle away from home in the first time in a while – arguably since our trip to Stoke City back in November. When the chips were down the team stood up to be counted and dug in, showing they perhaps do have the bottle for a relegation fight – after I questioned the their resolve just a week ago.

Read more: Zlatan misses penalty as 10-man Cherries hold United at Old Trafford

In pictures: Manchester United v Bournemouth

Andrew Surman getting sent off for reacting to Zlatan Ibrahimović elbowing Tyrone Mings – intentionally or not – is proof enough that there’s a passion in the camp for us to stay in the Premier League for at least another year.

As for the stamp by the way, there’s a strong case to be made for it being accidental – especially if you look at the way Mings attempts to curve his leg away from Ibrahimović’s head when he was desperately running back to help his teammates defend yet another United attack. You’d also have to be a truly sadistic and malicious psychopath to actually deliberately stamp on someone’s head – something Mings clearly is not if you watch his past performances or even his erudite interviews.

Read more: Ref loses control in ugly Zlatan/Mings clash – then he forgets to send off player

Read more: We stopped practising penalties – Mourinho

Second is that I felt we were generally unlucky regarding many decisions made in the game, so we deserved some good fortune when it came to Manchester United squandering their many presentable opportunities.

The fact Mourinho was unwilling to comment too much on the referee suggests to me that he knows he got away with some decisions too, such as the penalty awarded against us – which was pretty harsh in my view considering how close Adam Smith was to the ball being struck.

Third is that many players who have not performed well of late put in some top displays – in fact there was nobody in an AFC Bournemouth shirt that wasn’t one hundred percent committed. It was a real team performance, from the goalkeeper – Artur Boruc put in possibly his best ever showing in an AFCB jersey – to the front line. Yes, Benik Afobe may have looked a bit clumsy at times up top, but he certainly left nothing on the pitch.

This attitude was essential when we were reduced to ten men too – we actually looked more solid at the back with one less player, probably due to the fact it was clear at half time our only chance of a result was sticking with what we had. And my word did we cling onto that point for dear life – the siege mentality that Eddie Howe instilled into the team from last season was back in full force and it was something our away fans audibly reacted to.

Read more: Zlatan insists ‘Mings jumped into my elbow’

Read more: How Manchester United v Bournemouth unfolded

Another pleasing factor was that we did this all with Jack Wilshere missing from the team, and there’s certainly an argument to be made that he’s perhaps not the magical midfield presence he’s touted to be – when played in our team at least. We’ve looked effective as an attacking outlet without him a fair few times this season, most notably against Arsenal at Dean Court.

Although I know this was only one result – and our winless run has been extended – I can suddenly see a glimmer of hope for us this season that I couldn’t see just a week ago.