Out-of-form Cherries still dangerous, says Hughton
BRIGHTON boss Chris Hughton has dismissed suggestions it is a good time to face out-of-form Bournemouth.
Eddie Howe’s side have lost six of their last seven Premier League matches and have a lengthy injury list.
The Cherries, whose absentees include captain Simon Francis and midfielders Lewis Cook and Dan Gosling, also suffered defeat in their Carabao Cup quarter-final at Chelsea on Wednesday evening.
Hughton was at Stamford Bridge for that tie and, ahead of Saturday’s trip to the Vitality Stadium, insists the Dorset club remain a dangerous opponent.
“They certainly didn’t look like they were struggling then. I thought they were excellent,” said Hughton at this pre-match press conference, according to The Argus.
“Even right up until the end it looked like the game was going to penalties. Whichever players come in they know the roles very well. He (Howe) has got them playing in the way he wants to, very high-tempo, a lot of pace in the team. They have a way of playing and it always smacks me in the face that they are a team where everybody knows their roles and jobs. We expect a very difficult game, particularly at Bournemouth.”
The 13th-placed Seagulls travel along the south coast having suffered successive top-flight defeats. However, they are four points better off than at this stage last term, and Hughton feels his side have become more competitive.
“Points-wise, we’re certainly in a better position but it never, ever feels comfortable,” added Hughton. FORMER Town promotion-winning hero Lee Fowler is the new manager of Ilkeston Town.
And he takes over a team top of the Total Motion Midland Football League Premier Division.
The Welsh Under 21 international, of course, scored the clinching penalty when Town defeated Mansfield in the Third Division play-off final at Cardiff ’s Millennium Stadium in 2004, under boss Peter Jackson.
A sub in that final, Fowler had gone on to replace Jonathan Worthington five minutes from the end of normal time and, in the shootout, after Rob Edwards, Danny Schofield and Tony Carss had netted, Fowler sealed a 4-1 success to send Town up.
Fowler is still only 35 and, after a much-travelled career playing, mostly in non-league, he has gone into coaching - most recently with Nuneaton Town in the National League North.
He replaces another former Town player in Martin McIntosh, who left by mutual consent at the beginning of the month and is now with Frickley Athletic, and Fowler’s first match at the helm of Ilkeston will be away to Coventry United tomorrow.