ALTHOUGH thousands of viewers to Saturday's edition of Grandstand were initially deprived of the final outcome of this game, for most Cherries fans it really was a case of better late than never.

The scoreline was listed among the classifieds as a late result and, after three home games without a win, the Dean Court faithful must have been wondering when the next victory would eventually arrive.

Perhaps the delay was down to the fact that the clock at the South End had not been put back an hour last week and as the final whistle sounded, it displayed the time as fast approaching 6pm rather than 5pm.

However, any anxiety among the home crowd had been extinguished much earlier when Cherries striker Mark Stein grabbed the only goal of the game in the second half.

Until then, Cardiff, who are the Division 2 draw specialists, looked destined to hold out for another share of the spoils as they continued to frustrate luckless Cherries.

It was the Bluebirds who had provided stubborn opposition when Mel Machin celebrated his first league victory as Cherries manager in September 1994 with a hard-earned 3-2 win at Dean Court.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.