Tuesday 20 August 2019

Perfect penalty Josh King start to Bournemouth's win at Villa

When your team turns up at a newly-promoted team in front of a big crowd and the first home game of the season for the opposition, it's going to be a nervous affair. But Bournemouth didn't accept that they should go into their shell and weather the storm. They decided to attack and take the game to Aston Villa and they duly got their rewards in the first minute.
Josh King opened his goal account with a very early penalty at Villa Park.
When Bournemouth came to the Premier League in 2015, they were known for the quick starts and the energy that their strikers would bring to the game in the first period. We knew that opportunities to score would come early on and it was just a case of whether AFCB would take them or not. That kind of game plan might not have gone out of favour, but it hadn't been characteristic in AFCB's performances of late until the match with Aston Villa.

The speed and accuracy of the Bournemouth play in the first minute at Villa Park saw Ryan Fraser and Callum Wilson create something out of nothing. Callum's reputation is probably a big help to the team as Tom Heaton didn't want to give the striker any room and his miscalculation was a real present for AFCB. A penalty in the opening minutes is something that you rarely see, and it was pleasing that Josh King felt confident to put it away in the second minute.

That platform completely turned around the afternoon for AFCB from being a problem game to a match that they had the advantage in, and the opportunity to know that if they defended well they would get something from the game. When everything starts to go your way, there is a love of football that injects itself into the players' play. They believe that things are going to continue going their way and they try to do the unexpected, like Harry Wilson's long-range effort that doubled the lead on 12 minutes. The adrenalin must have been pumping in all AFCB's players and the fans at that moment.

Advertisement

The game was not won in the first quarter of an hour, but the bricks were in place for a memorable victory if Bournemouth could hold out. Hold out they did and the encouragement of early goals can't be ignored as a factor that always helps AFCB hit their rhythm and inspires confidence. Eddie Howe will have felt very different after the result against Aston Villa from what he felt in the first week. Keeping that feel good factor is now what it's all about as ACB head into what will be one of their most challenging games of the season.

No comments:

Post a Comment

tag: