Town first met AFC Bournemouth, which in an earlier life was known as Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, in the middle of The Great Slide in 1973/74.

The first series of meetings in Divisions 3 and 4, as they accompanied Town down into the basement, were not auspicious for the Terriers. In the first 4 seasons not one win was earned, there were 4 home draws 3 0-1 away defeats with a 1-1 draw in the second meeting.

After this things brightened up and, after two further away defeats and two home wins Town did the ‘double’ in the promotion season of 1979/80 triumphing 2-0 at Leeds Road and 3-1 away.

Since then AFCB won the ‘double’ in Divison 3 in 1990/91 beating Town 3-1 in both games. Since then AFCB has won only one game, that being at Leeds Road in 1992/93 when the Cherries won 1-0. From then on Town has been by far the better side. In 1993/94 the sides drew 1-1 at the Mac on 3rd January 1994 and then Town won five games straight. Later that season the away game was won 2-1. Then came two ‘doubles’, the first in 1994/95 3-1 and 2-0 and then, in the new Division 1 1-0 and 3-2 in 2001/02. Last season the winning run ended with a 2-2 draw away. This signalled a down turn in Town’s fortunes as the side had 2 away defeats and 2 home draws until the return match which the Terriers won 3-2. This was followed by another 5 away defeats. During this time the home record was 2-1-0 4-2. Then came the magnificent end of season run in.

There has been one successful FA Cup meeting, in Round 3 in 1997/98 when Town won 2-0 away in front of 7,385 spectators.

Strangely the best away gate was the first ever game between the sides. The best home gate was the game at home in 2005/06 when 13,522 turned up; this beat the previous best by over 2,000. The worst gate at home was a nothing final day game in 1977-78 which Town won 2-0 thanks to Goldthorpe and Holmes(P). Town finished 11th in Division 4 that year. 2004/05 produced the second best away gate of 8,448 and third best home gate of 9,754.

In 2005/06 at home Town threw away 2 points. After running the show in the first half they let the Cherries off the hook by giving away a daft penalty and then not closing them down. In the return fixture Fletcher scored for the home side in the first half and GTF saved a point for Town with an equalizer in the last quarter.

The next season at home Town twice came back from behind at home to finish with a 2-2 draw (GTF, Beckett). The away fixture brought a Town win, 2-1, with Worthington and Schofield (who came on as a sub) scoring for the Terriers.

Early on in 2007/08 Town won a great away win when Beckett scored the only goal just before half time. It was a notable win because Town had to field a makeshift team with Mirfin, Schofield, Cadamarteri and Sinclair all unavailable. The return fixture ended with the same score, this time Phil Jevons scoring the all important goal to give Town its first double of the season and fourth against AFCB. The Cherries were relegated at the end of the season.

Promoted in second place in 2009/10 the Cherries have made a reasonable start to the season. Losers at the Valley 0-1 on opening day they thrashed the Posh at home 5-1 then won 3-0 at Prenton Park but lost a 3-0 lead by conceding 2 injury time goals to draw 3-3 with the Magpies who easily won Div 4 last season by 10 points. Currently ahead of Town on goal difference (11-5 +6 against 8-5 +3) it promises to be a tough game. After a bad patch in the late 80s and early 90s when Town lost 3 out of 4 home fixtures the Terriers have now gone 7 without defeat at the MacGalph 4-3-0 13-8. If they turn in as good a performance as last week they should win again with a 2-0 score.

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