Bournemouth leave it late to stop it being Albion's day

AFCB 2 v 1 WBA

17 March 2018

Attendance: 10,242

Bournemouth faced WBA in a crunch match to
avoid being involved in the relegation scrap.

The cold air didn't disguise the feeling of nerves at Dean Court as Bournemouth's players set about the bottom side in the league. The fear of defeat was strangely growing in the first half with Bournemouth decidedly off colour and short of any tempo on which they regularly pride themselves. When Jay Rodriguez had a simple task to put Albion ahead on 49 minutes, there didn't seem anyway back for the Cherries. Even when Eddie Howe turned to Jermain Defoe, another comeback seemed unlikely against such a solid WBA defence, but Jordan Ibe decided to be adventurous and slammed in a shot from some 25 yards out, which Foster should never have been beaten by. The game was there for the taking and while Junior Stanislas has been disappointment often in free kick taking, he trusted in himself and his technique to find the top corner and the points were Bournemouth's!

Simon Francis would not last long in the first half which will be a worry for AFCB.

There were a couple of changes to starting line up with Josh King and Adam Smith coming into the side, while Charlie Daniels and Lys Mousset were on the bench. Marc Pugh was also back on the subs bench and Ryan Fraser, who had been a doubt for the game.

There are more pictures on Match Day Gallery.

There was no quick start for AFCB. WBA won the first corner but Chris Brunt hooked his cross out of play. Bournemouth couldn't get an attack going and Nathan Aké fell to the ground in a heap when going for the ball while Francis scared everyone by turning to pass back to Begovic with Salomon Rondón lurking. Albion pressed high and the Cherries found it difficult to make any progress.

Ibe couldn't get past his man and the momentum was with WBA when Rondón's header had to be well saved by Begovic on 10 minutes. A WBA corner followed before Bournemouth went close with a Wilson header and then a Gosling header that Foster needed to save. WBA came back with Rodriguez who had a long shot that Begovic saved easily at his feet.

Bournemouth then had a problem with Simon Francis stopping with a hamstring pull. Charlie Daniels replaced him on 17 minutes. Ibe then had a shot following a Bournemouth corner, but fired wide.

Foster was kept busy by Daniels who forced a save from the Albion keeper on 22 minutes. Nyom was bursting down the right frequently, but Steve Cook was making clearances when the crosses came into the box.

Albion were posing problems though with Yacob shooting over. Adam Smith was injured but was given a yellow card for his trouble as was Jake Livermore for starting a shoving contest.

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WBA came forward again with Nyom's cross being picked up by Gibbs, only for Ibe to win the ball and roll it out of play, but the officials didn't see that and so he played on.

Another Bournemouth corner led to a Steve Cook bicycle-kick attempt that was blocked.

Meanwhile, Lewis Cook was finding it hard to get his passing game going. Stanislas won and took a free kick only for Foster to save it at his near post. 

The three minutes of added time could not go soon enough for the fans. It was a poor half and a 0-0 scoreline.

A pretty poor half in terms of quality.

Begovis was probably the busier keeper first half.

Second half
Bournemouth were out early but soon found themselves under pressure with Steve Cook blocking Rondón. Wilson then broke with Stanislas who saw his shot blocked.

The next WBA attack resulted in a goal as play went up the left and a deep cross from Gibbs found Rondón at the far right post and he out jumped Aké, leaving Rdriguez with a great chance to snatch the lead from the knockdown, which he did on 49 minutes.

The goal was not totally unexpected. It was just what happens when Bournemouth aren't functioning well.

Dawson fouled King to give AFCB a free kick. Steve Cook's effort then went over. Lys Mousset was then give the call to replace an injured Adam Smith on 57 minutes. It was Gosling's turn to give the ball away next.

Lys Mousset had a couple of blocked shots and Heghazi felt the full force of them in his lower half, but didn't get any sympathy from AFCB fans. WBA were slowing the game down now.

Jermain Defoe replaced Callum Wilson on 75 minutes. Stanislas then shot just over the bar from a free kick. 

WBA also made a sub taking off Jonny Evans and sending on Matt Philipps. It was then that Ibe found the ball on the left in some space and he simply took aim and shot from distance, which took Foster by surprise, and left him staring at the ball that past him. The ball found the bottom corner of Albion's net! It was 1-1 on 77 minutes and Bournemouth were some how back on level terms.

Defoe soon won a corner as the noise from the home fans ratcheted up a level. WBA subbed Chris Brunt for Sam Field on 82 minutes and Rodriguez was sobbed for Robson-Kanu on 86 minutes, before Dawson fouled King and was booked.

Stanislas lined up his shot and from 25 yards out on the left. He stuck this one over the wall and straight into the top left corner. Bournemouth had won it 2-1 and the players ran to celebrate with Callum Wilson, almost knocking him off his feet.

Five minutes of added time still had to be negotiated. A shot from Craig Dawson almost got through but Charlie Daniels made a great clearance off the Bournemouth goal line, from Phillips' header, just before full time was up.

Bournemouth condemn WBA to another defeat.

Summary

Teams don't often under perform and come out winners. Yet, Bournemouth have a knack of turning on the quality in the last quarter of games at home. This match was not looking recoverable and how Ibe found the net out of nothing is still not clear to me. While others had held back from shooting, he was willing to have a shot to nothing and it worked. But even when he scored and was named over the tannoy, as man of the match, I said to those next to me that he isn't my man of the match, as there will be a winning goal. Sure enough, Junior Stanislas completed my prediction and it was brilliant to see him finally score from one of his free kicks - and to be the winner - that must have been special for him.

Bournemouth pick up the three points.

AFCB Subs: Boruc, Daniels, Surman Fraser, Pugh, Defoe, Mousset

AFCB Ratings
Begovic 7, Francis 5 (Daniels 7), S Cook 8, Aké 7, A Smith 6 (Mousset 6), Stanislas 8, Gosling 6, L Cook 6, Ibe 7, King 6, Wilson 6 (Defoe 5)

Cherry Chimes' MoM: Junior Stanislas

Ref Watch: Graham Scott: 5/10 Graham was pretty anonymous for most of the game but called a head injury on Steve Cook quickly and was watchful of WBA's time wasting.

WBA
Foster, Dawson, Evans (Phillips), Hegazi, Nyom, Livermore, Yacob, Brunt (Field), Gibbs
Rodriguez (Robson-Kanu), Rondón

Substitutes
Myhill, Krychowiak, Phillips, McClean, Field, Burke, Robson-Kanu,