WHEN Jamal Lowe stormed in to smash the loose ball home against Stoke City on Saturday, it rounded off a magical week on a personal note.
Just two days earlier, his partner Holly had given birth to the pair's third child, as they welcomed son Ziggy into the world.
Lowe was still on cloud nine come Saturday afternoon, returning to Cherries' starting line-up and popping up with the dramatic late winner in the 2-1 victory over Stoke City.
He was prepared for the big moment, revealing to the cameras a t-shirt with the word 'Ziggy' printed on.
When transfers are completed, it is often overlooked what an overhaul it can be for those people around the player who is switching clubs.
It is far from a new experience for Lowe, having moved across the length and breadth of the UK, from Portsmouth, to Wigan, to Swansea and now to Bournemouth, all in the past three years.
But the 27-year-old admits the move to the south coast did not quite go as smoothly as hoped.
Lowe told the Daily Echo: "It’s been a massive change.
"Obviously my missus was heavily pregnant when we moved down here.
"In the summer it’s so hard to find a place to stay here, so we were in a hotel for quite a while.
"We moved back to London for a while, so I was travelling up and down.
"Having your family close by is everything really. If your family aren’t near, it’s hard, especially if you’ve got kids.
"It’s hard to deal with. Now we’re all settled down here, it’s lovely."
Lowe, who joined Cherries for £1.5million from the Swans on transfer deadline day in August, was gently eased into things on the pitch by boss Scott Parker.
The forward had just 32 minutes of action under his belt before his first start for the club, six weeks after joining.
It also proved to be the game which yielded his first goal, too, netting in the 2-0 win at Bristol City.
But Lowe swiftly found himself back on the bench, with the likes of Dominic Solanke, Ryan Christie and Jaidon Anthony producing performances to keep the Harrow-born star out of the side.
And, following a busy month in the transfer window for Cherries, Lowe found himself out of the matchday squad for the first time all season little over a month ago, for the home game with Birmingham City.
But, a broken foot suffered by new signing Kieffer Moore opened the door for Lowe to return, and he grabbed his chance by coming off the bench to score in the win at Blackpool on February 12. Two weeks later he was starting and the match-winner against Stoke.
Asked if life away from the pitch earlier this season played a part in his form on it, Lowe said: "In hindsight, maybe. I don’t know, I wouldn’t pin it to that, but you can always tell when someone is more settled.
"We’re all human beings at the end of the day. We’ve all got family issues and we want to be close to our kids, we want to be close to our partners.
"Now that we’re down here, it’s perfect."
Discussing going from being out of the squad to now scoring two in two, Lowe added: "That’s football, isn’t it? I’m never going to hold my head and sulk. I’m a big boy.
"If I’m not in the squad, I’m not in the squad. I’m just going to keep my head down and keep working. Thankfully football turns around quickly.
"I might not be in the squad next game, I’ll do the same thing. That’s just football.
"We’ve got a big squad, we’ve got a talented squad, so it’s just about being ready all the time and thankfully I was ready on Saturday."
Lowe, who has scored four goals in 24 appearances for Cherries this season, will hope to continue his recent hot streak at Deepdale against Preston North End tomorrow (3pm).
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