The second half began and the pattern continued. Bournemouth sat deep. We probed. The clock ticked. Fifty minutes. Fifty-five. Sixty.
The Holmesdale's frustration was becoming physical, the groan that greeted Navas's overhit cross in the fifty-eighth minute was almost accusatory, the sound of supporters who had paid to watch a team win and were being subjected to a masterclass in organised defending by a side from the south coast.
I brought Pato on for Navas in the sixtieth minute, the Brazilian's movement between the lines a different kind of threat, his ability to drop deep and turn and play one-twos in tight spaces offering something that the wide play couldn't.
Pato's first involvement was a back-heel flick to Rodríguez that nearly sent the Colombian through Begović saved, but the angle had changed. The pressure was building. The dam was creaking.
In the sixty-second minute, we won a corner on the right.
