AFTER a rollercoaster of emotions and remarkable escape mission to avoid relegation from League Two, Eddie Howe and his Cherries squad would have been forgiven for merely stabilising in the fourth tier.

With the club still attempting to get to grips with a tough financial situation and Howe’s hands tied over player recruitment due to a transfer embargo from the Football League, the mere thought of promotion looked somewhat optimistic going into the opening day trip to Bury in August 2009.

However, the striker who notched his first goal of the season inside 17 minutes in a 3-0 win at Gigg Lane would play a key role in starting the club’s climb up the leagues.

Brett Pitman, a player who was arguably reborn when Howe took charge, was ever present for Cherries in the 2009-10 campaign.

In a trademark season filled with highs and lows, it was the academy graduate who fired the opener on this day 10 years ago away at Burton Albion to secure a return to League One football and continue the momentous story for the Dorset club.

Quizzed on the season, which was the first of Pitman’s three promotions with Cherries, he told the Daily Echo: “The main thing was trying to keep the momentum going because we had finished the previous season pretty well. From Christmas onwards we were on a decent run, from when Eddie took over really.

“We got a good win on the first day of the season at Bury, 3-0, and it just gave us confidence to go on from there.

“It wasn’t all of a sudden like we had a lot of investment that season and everything changed. It was still quite a similar situation. We still had a very small squad. It wasn’t as if we had suddenly signed 10 different players. It was largely the same group, with maybe a couple added but not many.

“It was still a tight-knit squad and I think that worked in our favour.

“Also, when you are in a football squad, if you can see you have got a chance of being involved and playing, people in the group are going to like it.

“Nobody was out of the picture or disillusioned. Everyone was in it and had a chance of playing each week.

“I think that was a big positive of the situation for us as players.”

Pitman would go on to score in Cherries’ final home game to end the campaign with 28 goals in all competitions – the best return of his career in a single season to date.

Yet the team ethic Howe had instilled led the 32-year-old to emphasise it did not matter how big his goal tally was as long as the squad reached its potential.

“Obviously, it is nice to score that amount of goals and help the team but the main thing was helping the team to get promoted – that was the main objective whoever scored and that is how it worked out,” said Pitman.

“It wasn’t about me scoring goals, it was about the team and it just happened that I scored quite a few goals that season.

“I have always seemed to finish the season pretty strongly for whatever reason. Throughout my career I have always managed to score goals towards the end of the season. I am not really sure why that is but that seemed to be a pattern throughout.”

Reflecting on the memorable day at Pirelli Stadium, which ended 2-0 after Alan Connell’s late effort, Pitman said: “We were aware it was a big occasion. We knew what was at stake but for me personally a game was a game. I don’t really get nervous.

“In the match itself I remember missing three or four chances in the first half and then second half I remember we had a free-kick that Coops hit on a long diagonal to Fletch, who headed down and I managed to volley with my left foot into the corner. It was a nice feeling to score in front of the away end.

“We were always pretty comfortable in the game. It finished 2-0 but it probably should have finished more than that. Alan scored towards the end but the game should have been out of sight in the first half.”