DEFENDER Chris Mepham felt Cherries deserved at least a point, after their defeat against Saints brought their unbeaten run to an end. The centre-back played 90 minutes of his team’s 1-0 reverse at Vitality Stadium, with Che Adams’s ninth-minute header proving the difference for the St Mary’s side to seal the spoils. Cherries, who were six games unbeaten going into the contest, had more of the ball and more shots than Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men on the night. But the hosts failed to fashion many clear-cut opportunities, allowing their south coast neighbours to dig in for victory.
Chris Mepham said: “I thought we dominated the second half, especially. The first half was probably quite even and we came out second half, committed a lot of bodies forward – had a lot of possession, created a lot of half-chances but probably not anything clear cut enough to get us properly back into the game. We showed our character in the second half to stick with it. They frustrated us but on another day, one goal suddenly turns the game on it’s head and we can get back into it.”
Quizzed on whether he felt his side deserved at least a draw,
Chris Mepham said: “I think so. If you were to look at the game as a whole, we dominated. We had them pinned in their half pretty much for 40 minutes out of 45 (in the second half). They had a spell right towards the end where we looked a bit tired but I felt like me, Marcos (Senesi), Adam Smith were in their half the whole time. I think that shows the dominance we had in the second half. We just need to work on putting half-chances to bed and ultimately making use of that dominance.”
Mepham was involved in a flashpoint towards the end of the first half during the contest. He appeared to make a sliding challenge on Ainsley Maitland-Niles with the ball having already gone out of play. Both players squared up in the aftermath and received cautions from referee John Brooks.
Chris Mepham said: “I think the ball was kind of going out of play and I’d already committed to making the tackle. The lad probably felt like it was quite a lot out of the pitch. I think sometimes you need something like that just to get the crowd going and get everyone going – it is what it is.”
Asked whether it showed the passion in the game between two south coast clubs,
Chris Mepham replied: “Yeah, exactly that.”
Cherries’ next test comes against West Ham on Monday evening (8pm).
