Gosling's sweet strike was something to savour

The jury might be out on whether Jason Tindall has a gift for getting more out of Bournemouth's players than Eddie Howe, but there is no denying that the Cherries are playing with newfound confidence. The last few seasons have not seen the Cherries central midfield players chip in with many goals, but we have already seen Jefferson Lerma and Dan Gosling net a couple of goals each this season. The system that is being used with three at the back is certainly contributing to the newfound freedom of some players who are being allowed to express themselves more.

Where has Dan Goslings shooting power come from?
While Dan Gosling picked up the player of the match award on Sky TV on Friday night, he will be the first to say that he missed other opportunities to bag a hat-tick. He was close when the ball was at his feet at the foot of the near post, but he didn't manage to force the ball over the goal line in that first half scramble. He was kicking himself even more at the start o the second half when he had a gift-wrapped pass that he ran onto in the box only to sky his shot. But Dan didn't sink on his heels. He just kept going and demonstrated that he would get further chances if he kept finding space, and he got his rewards arriving late in the box to put Bournemouth back in front at 2-1.

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That was just the start for Gosling. His second goal and Bournemouth's third was something special. I am still taken aback by how quickly he turned away from his man and ran at goal. He was sure that he could hit the back of the net, and yet he was some 30 yards out. It was not the audacity of taking the shot on that got me though, it was the grace and smoothness of the strike and just the effortlessness of how it looked. The ball was still rising as it hit the back of the net with the power generated from a short backlift. The keeper had no chance and Gosling must have known as soon as he struck the shot that it was going to be a goal.

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With Jefferson Lerma also making the edge of the box strike his staple goal signature, there is much to like about the way Jason Tindall has encouraged his central midfielders to shoot when they feel they have a clear shot at goal. It's just something that didn't happen in the Premier League and it may be that the players feel that they can experiment more in this league and have the time to go for the more outlandish type of goals. If Bournemouth keep playing like this they will be hard to stop. Even though they won the Coventry game 1-3, it could have been five or six goals had they been more clinical. The finishing is still something that has not been perfectly polished yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if JT got the players to be less wasteful. He was already commenting that more goals could have been scored in that first 45 minutes against Coventry.

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