Cheltenham Town boosted their Coca-Cola League Two survival hopes with this creditable draw at Bournemouth's Dean Court ground.
It wasn't a classic, but the performance was enough to record a precious point and extend boss Mark Yates impressive unbeaten record on the road to four matches since he returned to the club as manager.
Goalkeeper Scott Brown only had one save of note to make, and that arrived deep into injury time to prevent Brett Pitman snatching all the points to keep their promotion chase on track.
The result leaves second-placed Cherries trailing leaders Rochdale by six points, while Grimsby's home defeat by Notts County (0-1) extends the gap between Mark Yates' side and the Lincolnshire side to six points.
TEAM NEWS: Boss Yates was forced into making four changes to the side defeated by Rochdale at the Abbey Business Stadium 14 days ago. David Bird (at right back), Michael Pook (central midfield), Marley Watkins (right) and Elvis Hammond (up front) all returned to the side while Ashley Eastham (family bereavement), Matt Thornhill (hamstring), Julian Alsop (calf) and David Hutton (replaced by Watkins) all missed out. Lee Ridley, fortunate to escape relatively unharmed from a motorway car crash three weeks ago, made a welcome return to the squad on the substitutes' bench.
16th minute: Justin Richards forced the first notable save of the afternoon with 16 minutes on the clock, calling Shwan Jalal into a smart save with an angled effort on the turn. Cheltenham had started the contest in positive mood, creating three openings without troubling the Cherries number one into a stop.
26: Jalal touched over Pook's misdirected centre midway through the first half, although the resulting corner came to nothing.
31: It took a little over half an hour for the home side to forge their first real sight of goal, wideman Josh McQuoid slamming a half volley a foot wide of Scott Brown's left upright from the edge of the box.
34: Next Cherries striker Brett Pitman drew a comfortable save with a 20-yard free-kick in a central position.
37: Liam Feeney was handed a lifetime to release a 25 yarder eight minutes from the break, but fortunately from a Cheltenham perspective, it faded a couple of feet wide of the target. It was the last chance of a pretty drab first 45 minutes.
HALF TIME: 0-0
51: The first chance of the second period fell to Bird, who tested Jalal with a free-kick 20 yards from goal although his curler didn't carry enough pace to be a significant threat and it was held. At the other end, Danny Hollands couldn't keep down a volley from 18 yards, his effort ending up in the car park located behind the end of the ground without a stand.
52 SUBSTITUTION: Marvin Bartley replaced McQuoid seven minutes after the turnaround, moving into the area in front of his centre halves.
61: Pitman's right-footed volley from around 25 yards travelled well wide on the hour mark.
62: Veteran target man Steve Fletcher headed narrowly wide a minute later, making 20 yards to meet Lee Bradbury's pinpoint cross from the right with a decent downward header.
70 SUBSTITUTION: Alan Connell replaced Fletcher with 20 minutes of the match remaining.
71: Former Manchester City striker Lee Bradbury, plying his trade at right back here, was called into a last ditch interception when Hammond's clever flick almost resulted in the opening goal after some good work by Watkins down the right. It was the winger's last contribution.
72 SUBSTITUTION: Watkins was withdrawn with 18 minutes to go, with Theo Lewis being pressed into action behind the front pairing. Yates had started the game with a flat midfield four, but reverted back to his favoured diamond formation for the remainder of the game, spearheaded by the diminutive striker.
79 BOOKING: Pook went into the book for a reckless tackle on Feeney with 11 minutes to play.
80 SUBSTITUTION: Substitute Bartley last only 28 minutes before leaving the pitch through injury, with Jeff Goulding amounting to Bournemouth's third and final replacement of the match.
87: Bournemouth wasted a glorious chance to steal the points at the death, Pitman guilty of wastefulness eight yards from goal after Rhoys Wiggins fired in a low centre from the left flank.
89: Substitute Goulding back-heeled wide with a minute to play.
90 SUBSTITUTE AND BOOKING: Hammond was replaced by young Jake Lee in the final minute, and the striker was subsequently carded for time-wasting as he left the pitch.
90+3: Brown was called into his only save of the match, pushing away Pitman's fine 25-yard free-kick at full stretch three minutes into added-on time.
FULL TIME: 0-0
AFC BOURNEMOUTH (4-4-2): Jalal; Bradbury, Garry, Pearce (c), Wiggins; Feeney, Robinson, Hollands, McQuoid (Bartley 52, Goulding 80); Fletcher (Connell 70), Pitman. Sub not used: Thomas.
CHELTENHAM TOWN (4-4-2): Brown; Bird, Gallinagh, Townsend (c), Andrew; Watkins (Lewis 72), Labadie, Pook, Low; Richards, Hammond. Subs not used: Puddy (Gk), Hayles, Hutton, Haynes, Lee, Ridley.
REFEREE: Darren Sheldrake
ATTENDANCE: 5,259
Murry Toms at Dean Court
