Cherries lack a Matt finish (From Swindon Advertiser)

Cherries lack a Matt finish

6:00am Monday 24th September 2012 in STFC News By Andy Warren

MATT Ritchie showed Bournemouth exactly what they had missed out on as his two goals sent Swindon well on the way to a 4-0 victory against the Cherries.

The south coast club had a succession of bids turned down for the winger during the course of last season, and he reminded the visitors of his talent with a superb long range strike to give Town the lead before grabbing the third when a free-kick from the right crept all the way in at the far post.

Ritchie has now found the net four times in his last three games against the Cherries, and the 23-year-old believes his fortuitous second and Town’s third sapped the visitors of all their belief.

“When you go three down you lose as bit of belief, and the third goal put them on the back foot a little bit and when you are 3-0 up at home it is not often teams come back to equalise of anything like that,” he said.

“I have had three of them this season now which is good, but they all count and I put it in a good area and luckily enough it went in.

“For the first one I came inside, got a bit lucky with a touch and hit it sweetly and it went in. I thought it was a good strike and it was nice to score, but more importantly it was a good win for the team.

“It is good to score but the three points are more important, and we have three wins on the bounce now so hopefully we can kick on.”

Ritchie believes Town’s ability to take their chances will serve them well throughout the season, but highlighted a superb save by keeper Wes Foderingham late in the first half as an important part of the victory.

“If they had got one before half time it could have changed the game, but Wes was brilliant for the whole of last season and he has made some good saves this season too,” he said.

“We took our chances well and scored at good times. We went in at 2-0 up and then we were under the cosh in the first five or 10 minutes of the second half, but we got the third goal which put the game to bed.

“We were in control then and we went on to put in a good team performance.”