Howe pays a heavy price for his big gamble

YOU can almost understand Eddie Howe’s thinking.

Knocks and fatigue after the festive period, a top-half position in the Premier League to safeguard and winnable matches against Hull, Watford and Crystal Palace ahead.

The Bournemouth manager weighed all that up and decided to risk a full rotation of all 11 players from the side that faced Arsenal on Tuesday. Against League One opposition, it must have seemed like a gamble worth taking.

But the FA Cup can bite those who disrespect it and Howe’s Bournemouth were mauled by Millwall.

Goals from Steve Morison, Shaun Cummings and Shane Ferguson reflected Millwall’s superiority and Howe claimed afterwards that he had no choice but to make wholesale changes and he meant no disrespect.

‘My hands were tied a little bit,’ he said. ‘We are so stretched, the Premier League is demanding and we feel we need our best players available. We tried to protect the players we had fit.

‘We’d love to win the FA Cup. I’m not trying to disrespect it but you’ve got to do what’s best for Bournemouth FC.’

A dark cloud hangs over Millwall with Lewisham Council trying to force through a purchase of land around The Den to hand over to a property developer.

The prospect of relocating to Kent after 117 years here is real.

But with a critical council summit on Wednesday, Millwall’s players could not have been more persuasive as to their worth to the local community than this.

Morison thumped home a header in the 26th minute and Millwall doubled their lead when Cummings reacted quickest after Morison’s cross-shot was beaten out by Adam Federici.

And Ferguson rounded off an emphatic victory in stoppage time.