King is late goal unlocks Palace 2-2

Match Report

AFCB 2 v 2 Crystal Palace

7 April 2018

Attendance: 10,730

AFCB and Crystal Palace.

Watching a Bournemouth game is like being in the middle of a thrilling novel, with a villain, a scattering of heroes, and an ending that never quite unravels until you get to the very last page. The players are already cast of, course, with Wilfred Zaha coming in for plenty of angry chanting from the start and when you have a King and a Palace in the story, you can expect late drama. Palace took the lead early in the second half with a well-struck free kick from Luka Milivojevic and AFCB had to make a double substitution before they got any joy with Lys Mousset getting the Cherries level. Enter the villain, Wilfred Zaha, who snatched another goal for the visitors. With time running out it was looking like a sad end, but Josh King made it a third comeback in a row for AFCB and another valuable point closer to 40 points.

The ground remembered the sad loss of
Ray Wilkins with a minutes applause. 

Bournemouth made three changes from the last match with Marc Pugh, Jermain Defoe and Simon Francis coming into the starting line up. Jordan Ibe was rested due to illness, Josh King was put on the bench with his hamstring, not quite 100 per cent, and Jordan Stanislas was out for the season with a knee injury at Watford. That allowed Kyle Taylor to come into the squad, but Harry Arter was again missing.

There are more pictures on Match Day Gallery.

The early parts of matches at Bournemouth often create goals, but Callum Wilson was perhaps not quite set when Daniels played an early cross in from the left that put him through on goal as he sliced across the ball and didn't even trouble Hennessey in the Palace goal. A moment later Simon Francis found Defoe at the near post, but he also mis-hit his shot.

Lewis Cook did well to recover a lost ball with his tackling back before Gosling was fouled by Van Aanholt. Wilson almost got onto another ball at the near post, while Lewis Cook was fouled by Cabaye. Steve Cook's header went straight out though.

Steve Cook was stretched at the back to give Palace their first corner, but it was met by a firm Aké's header. Bournemouth had to wait until the eighth minute to get their first corner which saw Daniels volley over from 25 yards out.

Things began to heat up on 28 minutes when Lewis Cook and Wifred Zaha got caught in a tangle and Cook was dragged half way up the pitch by Zaha. Fraser then put the ball into the box and Wilson volleyed over.

Francis was also getting forward well and crossed for Marc Pugh to head over. Another  couple of Palace corners were well defended before van Aanholt shot over.

A Bournemouth corner led Hennessey to punch out. As half time approached Loftus-Cheek almost got Zaha in up the right side, but the Palace striker over ran the ball and hesitated opting not to go down in the end.

At the other end Defoe gave a good chance to Wilson who shot wide and then punched the ball in frustration. If that was hard to believe, in added time, Wilson again had a chance to open the scoring but headed wide. So it was 0-0 at half-time. 

Second half

Bournemouth needed to start well but Palace won an early free kick. The Cherries put five in the wall and Milivojevic picked the perfect spot over the top and past Begovic to make it 0-1 to the visitors on 47 minutes.

Bournemouth won a corner straight after and Lewis Cook picked the ball up as it ran out of the box and hit a rasping that was saved down to Hennessey's left for another corner. Bournemouth upped the pressure with Defoe shooting and getting another corner. This was supported by long throws from Steve Cook, but the Cherries were not getting much luck.

Palace then broke with Zaha and van Aarnholt found himself clean through against Begovic but the big keeper stretched his arms and legs out, spider style, and made the save. Townsend then had a shot blocked.

Zaha then got the wrong side of Daniels, cutting inside, but Begovic saved the shot.  A few moments later it was Steve Cook blocking Zaha.

Eddie Howe decided to put Mousset and King on with 62 minutes gone while taking off Pugh and Wilson. Bournemouth kept the ball up the Palace end by winning a corner and Daniels had a shot blocked. With AFCB switching play over to the right, Lys Mousset hardly took time to adjust his footing before with a small back lift he smashed a shot into the top right corner of the Palace net to make it 1-1 on 66 minutes. Ryan Fraser had provided another assist.

The instant strike had AFCB fans thinking their team could win this now. Francis and Zaha began a pushing match before Zaha had a shot go over. Townsend also hit a shot too high.

Mousset tried his luck again but hit his shot high, before Zaha had a header saved.

Zaha was a constant threat and he latched on to a ball on the right and ran across the edge of Bournemouth's box from right to left. He seemed to lose control at one point with Gosling in close attendance, but then the ball ran to him and his deflected shot flew past Begovic to make it 1-2 on 75 minutes. Gosling was booked for arguing.

The Cherries went three at the back in an attempt to get back into the game. Lewis Cook was subbed and Surman also came on for the last 10 minutes. Francis then picked up a yellow card for a deliberate foul on Loftus-Cheek.

Bournemouth flung everyone forward as we approached the end of 90 minutes and with a corner the ball bounced off Steve Cook's back and King could see his chance to stick the equaliser in from five yards at the far post. It was 2-2.

Three minutes of added time made for an exciting last period. Palace had Tomkins and Cabaye carded, but Palace survived the added time without conceding.

The teams after the match.

Final score.

Summary

Bournemouth are the comeback kings and refuse to be beaten at the moment. They created loads of chances to score but the ball just isn't going in for Wilson. If the first half was a bit sterile, the second half was full of incident and a fighting Cherries' recovery. We have seen many games like this now at Dean Court and the point is a welcome one, but you can't help wondering why Wilson is so out of form and  why AFCB continue to shop goals straight after half time.

Ref Watch Jon Moss 3/10. Another shocker from Jon Moss who did his best to get things equally wrong for both sides. It was a surprise that there were only four yellow cards and every time Fraser was flattened Moss simply looked to play on despite Palace coming away with the ball.

AFCB Subs: Borus, Simpson, B Smith, Taylor, Surman, King, Mousset

AFCB Ratings
Begovic 8, Francis 8, S Cook 7, Aké 7, Daniels 7, Fraser 9, L Cook 7, Gosling 6, Pugh 6,
Defoe 5, Wilson 5 

Crystal Palace
Hennessey, Wan-Bissaka, Tomkins, Sakho, van Aanholt, McArthur, Cabaye, Milivojevic,
Loftus-Cheek, Zaha, Townsend

Palace Subs

Kelly, Lee Chung-yong, Cavalieri, Souaré, Fosu-Mensah, Daly, Riedewald

T-Shirt winners
@James-rood and @TimAshton