Pouton was straight in the action, in fact it took seconds for him to mark his return. From the Bournemouth kick-off, Pouts was straight in with a foul on Gareth O'Connor. Good to have you back 'Al.
The early concerns about Pouton's fitness were soon put away as he won a 50-50 challenge before releasing Boulding with a sprayed ball with the outside of his right boot. Boulding failed to make the best of the ball and was eased out of the action by Maher.
Pouton again won a crunching tackle allowing Onuora to pick up the loose ball. His ambitous 30 yard lacked any power and only just reached Neil Moss in the goal.
Onuora's next contribution to the game was a mis-timed tackle from behind on Maher which resulted in a deserved yellow card on 21 minutes.
Four minutes later the came exploded when Brian Stock launched himself into a truly awful lunge on Pouton. Jason Crowe retaliated with a stamp on the Cherries midfielder as a 20 man free-for-all ensued. Pouton was helped to the touchline for treatment whilst both Crowe and Stock were given red cards by Mr T Kettle.
From there the game died on his feet a bit. Town went 4-3-2 with a midfield of Jevons, Pouton and Campbell. Hardly all action, I'm sure you'll agree.
Pouton's return to the pitch was met by a chorus of boo's from the Dean Court faithful. That Pouton, how dare he get in the way of a two-footed lunge. W****r.
Town badly missed Crowe's pace and energy in midfield as the highly rated Gareth O'Connor threatened to control the game on his own.
Twice before the break Town had great chances to take the lead. First Barnard's quick thinking gave Boulding a great chance but he got the ball caught under his feet. His eventual shot was easy for Moss to gather.
Then Jevons made progress down the right flank before a precision low cross to on-rushing (read jogging) Onuora. With time to spare in front of goal Iffy swung his foot in an almighty manner towards the ball, only to kick thin air as the ball trickled under him. The free ball nearly fell to Boulding but the Cherries' defence reacted well to prevent him from scoring.
Bournemouth also threatened twice, both times through former Leeds forward Warren Feeney. Picking up the ball in his own half, Feeney dashed goalwards but failed to look up and pass. On both occasions Mike Edwards guided both the player and ball away from the danger with ease.
The second half was pretty much of a non-event with Town seeming happy for the point. In a quite bizarre move, Michael Boulding was moved onto the left wing as Town reverted to a 4-4-1 with the ever mobile Onuora the lone striker.
With Town sat back in defence, Bournemouth pushed forward yet failed to breach the solid wall of Edwards and Crane. Edwards was awesome in sweeping up loose balls and making superhuman blocks whilst Crane had Steve Fletcher, supposedly one of the better lower league target men, in his back pocket.
Onuora almost found himself joining Crowe in the early shower, although Crowe would probably have finished by then. The striker needlessly fouled Broadhurst and got a stern telling off from Mr T Kettle.
The 36-year-old rolled back the years moments later when he controlled a long ball before turning and barging past his two markers. With the wind behind him Iffy bombed down the wing. Upon reaching the touchline he had ran out of gas though and whilst his cross was crap it did win a corner. No suprise that the corner came to nothing.
Having run himself into the ground all game Pouton was replaced by Hamilton on 70 minutes. Onuora soon followed with Mansaram coming on.
The two subs introduced some much needed fresh legs to the game. Hamilton appeared to have forgotten his recent poor form by taking over from Pouton in impressive style.
With Town now playing an eight man wall in front of Davison, attack's were few and far between. One of the more promising saw Boulding intercept a mis-timed pass before going shoulder to shoulder with Elliott. The red&black shirt fell to the floor despite giving as good as he got. Amazingly Mr T Kettle blew for a free-kick as Boulding was about to shoot.
With the game drawing to a close Bournemouth piled on more pressure. Excellent tackles from Crane, McDermott and Edwards were needed with hopeful penalty calls late on waved away by Mr T Kettle.
Overall a half decent workman like performance from Town. The dismissal of Crowe badly hit Town, yet the decision to hold onto the point possibly did more damage.
Man of the Match - Alan Pouton. OK, he only got 70 minutes and the last 20 of those he was struggling. But he was first class in the first half and could really kick start our season on his own. Great to see him back in action.