Cherries enjoy highest home attendance since 1989

It felt like one of the biggest nights in Bournemouth's history, so it felt appropriate that so many were there to see it.

With the filled-in north-west and south-east corners available for the first time, the attendance figure of 12,070 against Sturm Graz was easily Bournemouth's highest of the 21st Century.

Dean Court, the Cherries' home since 1910, was reconfigured completely in 2001, with all the existing stands demolished and the pitch turned through 90 degrees.

But even with the addition of the "temporary" Ted MacDougall Stand, which has been in place since 2013, its capacity had only been a shade over 11,000 until Thursday.

To find a bigger attendance than the Sturm Graz game, we have to go back to February 1989, when Manchester United were the visitors for an FA Cup fifth-round tie.

Harry Redknapp's side battled to a 1-1 draw in front of a capacity crowd of 12,500 at the "old" Dean Court, while the replay drew 52,422 to Old Trafford, which interestingly was United's highest home attendance for several years until their own capacity was increased.

The only Bournemouth home game since 1989 which threatened to topple that figure was the final match of the 1994-95 season, when Shrewsbury were beaten 3-0 to complete the Cherries' first "Great Escape", avoiding relegation from Division Two (now League One) - having only had nine points by Christmas.

The official attendance declared that night was 10,747, although anecdotally, the true figure was rumoured to be up to a couple of thousand more, with the terraces absolutely jam-packed.

However, despite Bournemouth's plans to further increase Vitality Stadium's capacity next season to about 20,000 with a massive new South Stand, the largest home attendance in the club's history is unlikely to be topped any time soon.

That was also for an FA Cup tie against Manchester United, back in 1957, when an unfathomable 28,799 packed into Dean Court for a quarter-final which United won 2-1.

Listen to more reaction from John Williams on the Cherries' European night on BBC Sounds