Continuing our look at some chosen extracts from the Disrupted Season (2019-20), Cherry Chimes recalls the 2019 game against Southampton at St Mary's which ended up a magnificent 1-3 away win for the Cherries. It indicated that Bournemouth could string back-to-back wins together and we thought everything would be fine after the game as Bournemouth were firmly in the European places after this game.
Whoever won the match would go third at least overnight, with the majority of the fixtures to follow over the weekend. Bournemouth hadn’t won away at Southampton since 1953, so fans travelled more in hope than expectation. Now the 20 September 2019 would be a date to remember when another record was broken by Eddie Howe’s men.
Eddie Howe only made one change to the winning team against Everton. Lewis Cook was managed by moving him to the bench, after his impressive comeback from injury in the last match, and Jefferson Lerma took his place in central midfield. Ryan Fraser found himself still stuck on the bench, nursing a bit of a knock, while Josh King kept his place on the wing so that Solanke could try and break his scoring duck upfront. Harry Wilson also kept his place, despite recently falling short of his great performances in earlier games. Bournemouth wore their all-new, dark, navy-blue, strip for the first time this season.
The game went better than expected for Bournemouth fans from the off, with Nathan Aké heading in from a corner in the 10th minute to give the Cherries the lead. That lead was then doubled on 35 minutes when Harry Wilson swept the ball past Angus Gunn from a pass from Philip Billing. It could have been a bigger lead at half-time, but Josh King had a goal ruled out by VAR for being marginally offside. The second half looked like being a tighter affair when Steve Cook made a poorly timed challenge on Ché Adams and a penalty was awarded to the Saints, from which James Ward-Prowse scored. Bournemouth fans would have the last laugh though. Angus Gunn and Jan Bednarek ran into each other and left Callum Wilson with the goal at his mercy to make it 1-3 in the fifth minute of added time.
Philip Billing was my man of the match, but I could easily have picked Aaron Ramsdale or Josh King. This was a superb Bournemouth performance and we looked ahead with optimism. ‘There was one team that was willing to leave everything on the pitch to get a win at St Marys. AFCB may have found it tough going in the second half, but their resolve was outstanding,’ I commented.
‘Now the hoodoo has finally fallen and Bournemouth's players can hold their heads up high. They were magnificent and the running power of King and Billing were fundamental reasons why they won the game. Add in the sharp saves of Aaron Ramsdale and the defending of Nathan Aké and Jack Stacey, and for once Bournemouth looked like a team that was organised and galvanized in their single task.’
Like most Bournemouth fans, I took particular delight in the Cherries' third goal of the night at Southampton. It was a calamity for the Saints. ‘Southampton were going to lose the game and it probably just put a bit more gloss on the scoreline for Bournemouth. But it's the kind of goal that will get rolled out for years to come now, as the goal that made Southampton look extremely silly in the south coast derby and that gifted Callum Wilson a goal,’ I reported.
Our happy faces left the St Mary's stadium knowing that Bournemouth were on the up and it felt good to finally win at St Mary's. What we didn't know is that away wins would become much harder to accomplish in the rest of 2020-21.
The Disrupted Season (2019-20) is available now as a £9.99 ebook or as an £11.49 paperback.
The paperback will also be available from In off the Far Post at 901 Christchurch Rd, Pokesdown, Bournemouth from 21 October 2020 - pop in and say hello to Paul and you'll probably want to also by some other things he has in his shop.
In other news, West Ham have been making inquiries about Josh King, while Chris Mepham had a poor night in Wales' 3-0 defeat to England in a friendly at Wembley.
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