Brett steals Big Fletch's thunder

Sometimes football just refuses to follow the script.

At Dean Court yesterday Bournemouth’s match against Wycombe Wanderers was supposed to be all about one man as club hero and record appearance holder Steve Fletcher returned to the club a season and a half after being let go.

But it was Fletcher’s young strike partner Brett Pitman stole the show, with a delicious free-kick and a fine all-round performance as the Cherries beat League Two’s top side 3-1.

Pitman has come in for his fair share of criticism from Cherries supporters and has been written off on numerous occasions.

An apparent lack of workrate at times, inconsistency and rumours of off-field excesses has had the Cherries faithful on his back and he seemed to alienate them permanently a few weeks ago when he was sent off minutes after coming on for a wild challenge as Bournemouth were dumped out of the FA Cup by minnows Blyth Spartans.

What has never been in doubt is Pitman’s potential and Eddie Howe was prepared to offer the olive branch to the 20-year-old when he was appointed caretaker manager, probably influenced by the striker’s youth team mentor Joe Roach, now his assistant.

The lad is a natural goalscorer, as his prolific record at reserve and youth team level proves, and I feel those who wrote him off completely were far too quick to judge.

We sometimes become too obsessed with the idea of a footballer who has fallen completely off the rails but sometimes we have to take players for what they really are, young men who are growing up.

Pitman has been in and around the first team for around two years now and, although he has made over 100 appearances for the club, he is still a youngster.

Yes he will make mistakes on and off the pitch but what is important is that he learns from those mistakes and never loses sight of how lucky he is to have such talent.

Having Joe Roach around the first team will hopefully help Pitman’s confidence and I believe playing alongside Steve Fletcher will also help his game.

There was a lot of debate around the return of ‘Big Fletch’, of course he is a cult hero and will always be cheered on by the fans, but he is 36 now and it remains to be seen whether he has the fitness and mobility to play week in, week out at this level.

He is also something of an Emile Heskey figure in that people will always point to his poor goal scoring record.

What is never in doubt is his commitment and he does do a job for the team, he is a handful for defenders and allows someone like Pitman to make runs, knowing Fletcher is likely to win the flick on.

There is still a lot of work to be done for both Eddie Howe, for whom Saturday was his first win as boss in his first game after getting the job permanently, and Pitman, but there were positive signs and hopefully the Wycombe win will be the start of something.