'Hard yards' and a Prague summit

[Getty Images] For many Bournemouth followers, "doing the hard yards" meant following the team in their League Two days, spending every other Saturday heading to cold northern outposts such as Bury or Rochdale, or further still, Carlisle or Hartlepool. On Thursday evening, hundreds of Cherries fans who had made the journey to Prague and had gathered in the Old Town Square, embarked on the traditional European "fan walk" to the stadium. Having crossed the river still in good spirits, the steep walk up more than a dozen flights of steps into Letna Park dampened that enthusiasm slightly, with some comparing it to the gargantuan climb up into the gods to reach the away end at Newcastle United's St James' Park. The "hard yards" were not yet over, as with Sparta Prague's Epet Arena in sight, supporters were held up by police, and then seemingly directed away from the stadium and down residential streets before finally reaching the away fans' section on the far side of the ground, with kick-off fast approaching. It did not look like it would be Bournemouth's night after Lewis Cook missed a penalty and Sparta took a 1-0 half-time lead to end the Cherries' run of six clean sheets. Cook is not known for his goalscoring prowess, with a record of four goals in 318 appearances across his 10-year Bournemouth career. In his defence, the Cherries' two regular penalty-takers, Justin Kluivert and Marcus Tavernier, were on the substitutes' bench at the time, while Cook did have a perfect three-from-three record in penalty shootouts, netting against Norwich in 2022, Wolves in 2025 and Newcastle earlier this year. Despite having made eight changes for the Sparta game, boss Marco Rose was not to be denied, and was again vindicated in his choice of substitutions as Tyler Adams, Evanilson and Rayan all came off the bench to score in a 3-1 win. So, those who had done the "hard yards" were rewarded with a seventh successive win in all competitions and a continued 100% record in the Europa League. Although some, understandably, took a more leisurely tram ride back to the city centre. Explore Bournemouth content on BBC Sounds