It's been a tough season down on the south coast for Bournemouth but over the last few months Kevin Bond's men have hit a rich vein of form to move six points clear of the League One drop zone. Last Saturday's 2-0 victory against Tranmere was their second win on the bounce and the Cherries will be aiming to make it three in a row when they travel to second-from-bottom Rotherham this weekend. A couple more wins should guarantee Bournemouth's place in the division for next season and givemefootball's Mark Shail got the thoughts of influential defender Neil Young ahead of the long journey to Millmoor.
Q:YOU MUST BE DELIGHTED WITH THE LAST TWO RESULTS?
A:Yes, we've picked up our form recently, mind you we needed to, and those couple of wins have given us a bit of breathing space. Before, we seemed to win games but the other teams around us would win as well so we weren't really making any progress. But that has changed over the last few weeks.
Q:THINGS WERE LOOKING A LITTLE WORRYING A MONTH OR SO AGO, WEREN'T THEY?
A:They were, and we were starting to look over our shoulders at the other teams behind us. Every time we lost a game I would be reluctant to look at the table because it didn’t make pretty reading for a long time. But thankfully the last few games have gone our way and now we need to keep things going between now and the end of the season.
Q:IT MUST BE NICE KNOWING YOUR DESTINY IS NOW IN YOUR OWN HANDS?
A:It is and we've still got to play Bradford and Gillingham at home, and they're both down near the bottom, so they will be crucial games. It's never easy to predict exactly how many points will make us completely safe but I would think two more wins should do it for us.
Q:WHAT DO YOU PUT THE IMPROVED FORM DOWN TO?
A:We had a change in management earlier in the season and it took a bit of time for us to adjust to things but gradually things started to gel. The gaffer has also brought a couple of loan players in from other clubs and those signings have come up trumps for us. I'm not sure if we've actually won three games on the spin all season so it will be nice to get another victory at Rotherham on Saturday.
Q:ARE YOU ENJOYING WORKING WITH KEVIN BOND?
A:Yes, I think he took a bit of time to settle in and it was a slow start but we weren't getting much luck during his first few games in charge. Our performances were good without getting the results to go with them. But we've shown a lot of spirit over the last few months and we're starting to win games that we probably would have lost earlier in the season.
Q:YOU MUST FANCY YOUR CHANCES THIS WEEKEND?
A:Obviously we're playing with a lot of confidence but Rotherham are fighting for their lives right now and it won’t be easy. They actually beat Blackpool in the week, which was a great result, and they certainly won't be throwing the towel in. It's not a ground where we've got a particularly good record but hopefully we can change all that on Saturday.
Q:SO YOU THINK TWO MORE WINS WILL MAKE BOUREMOUTH SAFE?
A:Looking at the table, you have to say that Brentford and Rotherham are struggling and then it's two other teams from a possible six. We've got a six-point cushion at the moment and another two wins should do it. Having said that, you can never take things for granted – for example Gillingham would never have thought they would be where they are now a couple of months ago. If you go on a bad run at this stage of the season before you know it you can get sucked into a relegation battle.
