A sprinkling of penalty dramas gives Cherries a point against Wolves

Match Report

23 February 2019

AFCB 1 v 1 Wolves

Attendance: 10,671 

AFCB take on Wolves at Dean Court.

Bournemouth's home form has been a real safety net for them this season. They came into this game perhaps not even as favourites, but they did almost everything right to get the win. Josh King scored early with a penalty and Bournemouth played with control, led in the main by the heading ability of Aké, the running power of Gosling and the quick thinking and tidy play of Mepham at the back. Yet, the second half had more ups and downs and when Jimenez rolled in the equaliser for the spot the game could have run away from Bournemouth. A second penalty, won by Fraser, looked to have given Bournemouth a golden chance to wrap up the points though just a few minutes later. It was unfortunate that King didn't score. I'm not sure Bournemouth needed the water works to come on to show the crowd's disappointment, because Eddie Howe saw plenty of positives from this performance.

The Cherries gave Chris Mepham his first Premier League start as Steve Cook had picked up a groin injury that kept him out. This also meant that Dan Gosling would be the captain. Nathaniel Clyne came back into the team which meant Diego Rico moved to the bench, while Domonic Solanke also came into the side.

Bournemouth said goodbye to a World Cup winner.

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Adam Smith had a poor start to the game catching Matt Doherty late and picking up a yellow card. Nathan Aké was also not having a quiet time of it, winning a series of headers to keep Wolves at bay, before Nevez shanked a pass out for a throw.

Jota also tested Aké with a byline cross that led to the first corner. Johnny Otto fired a shot goalwards but Lerma got the block in for another corner.

Mepham showed he was calm in possession at the back, before Bournemouth finally got an attack going with Fraser, who cut back a cross that Solanke headed wide of the target on nine minutes.

Clyne was having problems keeping the ball and Mepham almost got into trouble being hounded by Jota, who fouled him, before Jiminez cheekily finished the move only for  Roger East to rule it out for the foul on Mepham.

Ibe then got round the back and Clyne passed the ball in to King who went down under challenge from Moutinho, from behind, in the box - penalty! Josh King sent Patricio the wrong way to give AFCB a 1-0 lead on 13 minutes.

Jota and Otto were pressing on Mepham at the bak before Fraser went down. The ball then ran off Mepham's head and down his arm in the box, but the referee didn't blow for a penalty, only a corner. Jota was so infuriated that he ended up in the book after lots of Wolves players had circled the referee about his decision not to give the penalty.

Ibe was next to be boxed in by Moutinho and Jota. Solanke was holding the ball up well, but Ibe couldn't win afoot race with the centre-half. Moutinho and Lerma were trading tackles in the middle, while Aké was winning the fight with Jota.

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Jota did get in against Mepham on 39 minutes, but Mepham fought well and moved Jot a wide so the shot from Jota went wide of the right post with Jiminez unable to get on the end of it.

Ibe was making some good runs and Dendonker ended up fouling him and received a yellow card for his trouble. As the half drew to an end, it was Mepham springing out of defence to jump past three Wolves players before eventually losing out.

Wolves closed the half with Neves having a volley charged down by Lerma, while Bournemouth attacked with Josh King on the left, before his cross ran to Ibe and Clyne ended up with a shot that Patricio got down to save at his near post.

Bournemouth were doing well enough by half-time.

Second half

Bournemouth started slow and almost got caught at the back. Wolves had to back off though after an offside. Wolves pressed on with Moutinho and Doherty winning a corner. Boruc had to palm a header over before another Wolves corner.

Bournemouth started to pick up their game with King, he crossed for Solanke to head narrowly wide. A better chance followed with Fraser heading forward and Gosling creating space and playing Solanke in down the middle. Solanke just kept his feet, while holding off challenges as he got in the box, and his shot was well struck to the left side of the goal, but Patricio saved it with his right hand down low.

Bennett fouled Fraser and was booked, before Fraser put in a dangerous low cross right into the six yard area that was hurriedly cleared. Lerma put a great ball in to Solanke who might have shot, but he tried to thread a ball to Ibe on the right which he couldn't get to in time.

Wolves subbed Jota for Cavaleiro on 66 minutes. Bournemouth kept up the attacks with Adam Smith and Fraser working well. But Jiminez sent out a warning shooting from a central position and was luckily blocked.

Lerma picked up his 10th card of the season for an elbow on Moutinho - with Wolves fans calling for a red card. Bournemouth came close to securing the points moments later when King played a cross field ball, and Ibe cut in from the right and hit a curling shot that beat the keeper but it came off the bar.

Wolves upped the pace with Neves winning a corner before hitting a shot over from distance. Wolves then subbed Dendoncker and put on Adama Traore. Traore immediately got involved linking up with Cavaleiro.

Traore put in a cross that Doherty headed wide. Moutinho then got forward down the left and Doherty got on the end of the move, running into the box by the D and taking a shot that sped wide. But he was caught late by Adam Smith and the referee pointed to the penalty spot on 82 minutes.

Jimenez beat Boruc to level and a frantic last few minutes were left for someone to win it. Bournemouth should have done just that as after the restart Solanke battled for the ball in the box and went down, no penalty! Then King went down, no penalty! Fraser on the edge of the box was tripped and it was a penalty! It looked to everyone that it was just outside, but a penalty was given.

Josh King just needed to put it away, but he missed off the post to the left of the goal.

Fraser was Bournemouth's ace now, winning corner and and taking the play to the opposition's back line. King had a shot blocked, before Willy Boly shot wide at the other end. Jimenez was subbed for Roman Saiss on 90 minutes, while Patricio was booked.

Five minutes of added time were rather eventful.  Bournemouth won a corner and Solanke had a clean header but the keeper got to his right to save it. Solanke was then subbed for Mousset to come on in added time. Aké won a corner next, but Gosling picked up a yellow card for a foul on Neves.

As he did the sprinklers came on just to add further entertainment. It wasn't long though before the referee's whistle went for full time.

A 1-1 draw gives AFCB a point.

Summary

Bournemouth did extremely well to hold Wolves who were four places higher in the league. It wasn't a game of a lot of chances, but Bournemouth had enough to win it. The penalty miss of course was the best chance, but Solanke came close as did Ibe. There was plenty to be pleased with in defence too, with Mepham's sensible play and Aké's tireless work. Fraser and Gosling also added energy to the team going forward and the big downer of the day was probably seeing Lerma pick up his 10th yellow card for the season. Three points would have been fantastic, but a point could be valuable and the side showed that they can stand up well against a physical side in this game - more of the determination will be needed against Arsenal and Man City in the coming days.

AFCB's team

AFCB Subs: Begovic, Rico, Simpson. Daniels, Surman, Surridge, Mousset

AFCB Ratings

Boruc 6 very little to do
Clyne 5 some good tackles bout lost the ball a lot
Mepham 7 very assured when under pressure
Aké 8 he gave a masterclass
A Smith 5 kept Doherty quiet in the main
Ibe 6 signs of improvement, unlucky with his shooting
Gosling 7 the heartbeat of the team
Lerma 7 we'll miss him next two games
Fraser 8 Mr dynamo - finds energy late on in games
Solanke 6 will feel better when he gets first goal
King 6 needs to get over penalty save quickly

Cherry Chimes MoM: Nathan Aké

Ref Watch: Roger East 3/10: tough game for the ref - players looking for pens - he always looked under pressure.

Wolves
Rui Patrício, Bennett, Coady, Boly, Doherty, Dendoncker (Traoré 77), Neves, João Moutinho, Castro Otto, Jiménez (Saïss 88), Jota (Cavaleiro 66)

Wolves Subs
Ruddy, Cavaleiro, Hélder Costa, Gibbs-White, Saïss, Vinagre, Traoré

T-shirt competition
Jack Russell @tallguy22270 wins the Cherry Chimes' T-shirt competition for correctly predicting the 1-1 score.