Bournemouth on a Bank Holiday sounds the perfect weekend.

Sun; sea and, err, Ken Dodd performing live on the pier.

Unfortunately, City experienced none of that and left the rain-swept south coast with nothing to show from a 600-mile slog - apart from another costly injury.

James Hanson's pulled hamstring adds to the growing congestion in the treatment room but it does allow Peter Taylor to eye up various options in the coming week.

Little may hinge on league points but each game gives the City gaffer a good idea on what works and what doesn't.

He will be interested to see how the team operate without Hanson's head offering aerial domination up front. Like Dodd, he will have to work with the diddy men.

Saturday clearly demonstrated what a big part Michael Flynn plays.

The influential midfielder missed his first game for the club - and didn't it show.

Lee Bullock should have been a natural replacement in the City engine room but his partnership with Adam Bolder never got going. Their passing was poor and timing off key and without that fulcrum to keep things ticking, City created little going forward.

Taylor said: "We ask them to go and get the ball off the back four but the midfield players didn't do that enough. There wasn't the confidence to go and get it and that's what we've got to improve on. I don't think we played enough football. Too many of the players were five out of ten."

At least Gareth Evans did make the bus and was able to start after a couple of pain-killing injections in his dodgy foot.

Things didn't look promising when he hobbled out of a meaty challenge with the afternoon's outstanding player Marvin Bartley. But Evans bit his lip and rode the discomfort.

He had City's best - possibly only - chance to level in the second half after being pushed forward to take over from Hanson.

With Taylor throwing three up front, substitute Leon Osborne's pass sent Evans scampering clear. For once Bartley, as strong at the back as he had been in midfield in the first half, was beaten but the shot thudded against the bar.

The game was almost devoid of chances before Bournemouth struck four minutes before the break.

Ryan Kendall was given his first start on the back of that impetuous finish against Dagenham but the Hull youngster never looked at the races and drifted out of it completely after a couple of half-hearted efforts early on.

City were containing the third-placed Cherries pretty comfortably. The centre halves ensured there was no joy for Bournemouth battering ram Steve Fletcher on the afternoon the north stand was unveiled in his honour.

But the good work at the back went out the window as half-time beckoned.

From a Bournemouth view, it was a well-worked goal. Shaun Cooper showed good skill to win the ball in defence; Liam Feeney neatly picked out Fletcher in the box and he held it up to create enough space for Brett Pitman to notch his 20th league goal in the bottom corner.

From the other side of the fence, it was very different. City had several chances to snuff out the danger - Taylor certainly thought so.

Nobody reacted as Fletcher teed up Pitman. Robbie Threlfall, Steve Williams, Bullock and Luke Oliver all looked culpable as the striker was allowed to size up his options.

And Matt Glennon was left rooted to the floor by a shot that found the bottom corner of the net almost apologetically.

Oliver admitted: "We played too deep in the first half and allowed Pitman to play a bit in front of us. That's how he got his goal. We counteracted that afterwards and did better defensively but it was too late by then."

City had to chase the game but their salvage hopes were hit as Hanson pulled up in front of the away fans holding the back of his leg.

Taylor then hoiked Kendall and switched to the extra man up front, flanking Evans with Osborne on the left and Gavin Grant the right.

It would have paid off within minutes if Evans had kept his well-struck shot down by a couple of inches.

That near miss briefly galvanised the visitors and the 250 or so hardy travelling supporters. Luke O'Brien twice drilled unconverted passes across the danger zone and another from Evans went similarly unpunished.

But there was no real conviction about any fightback - City did not muster a single corner all afternoon.

Bournemouth could and should have had a second.

Pitman, who was happy to shoot from anywhere, blazed straight at Glennon when it looked easier to score. And Feeney was close to capping his lively display with a cross-shot that was blocked in front of the line.

Not, as Dodd would say, a wonderful day.