Bournemouth 1 Wolves 2
Gary O’Neil returned to the club who sacked him in the summer as he looked to send a message to the hierarchy at the Vitality Stadium. Andoni Iraola is eight games into the season, still winless as Bournemouth manager and outside of the south coast many fans would still struggle to name their manager.
Wolves almost made the perfect start to the game as the dangerous Pedro Neto twisted and turned and run across the edge of the box before unleashing a shot which had the keeper beaten. Sadly for the Portuguese winger the ball came crashing back off the crossbar.
O’Neil must have wondered if this wasn’t going to be their day when Bournemouth came forward on their first attack, Billing squared it to Solanke who calmly passed it into the back of the net. The Cherries’ players reacted like a team desperate for their first win of the season.
Neto continued to cause problems for the visitors and as he looked to receive the ball back in the box, only a well timed sliding tackle from Billing could prevent him from what surely would have been an equaliser for Wolves.
Credit: @Wolves
Whatever Gary O’Neil said at the break seemed to have worked as his side immediately got back on level terms when Neto set up Cunha to sweep the ball home. It also silenced the home faithful and put doubt in Iraola’s players once more.
Hwang was then fouled by Cook, which angered the striker, who leapt to his feet and went head to head with the Bournemouth player. Stupidly, Cook then motioned his head forward, headbutting the Wolves striker who dropped to the floor.
The referee had no choice but to give him his marching orders as he produced a red card out of his pocket. Irrelevant to the level of contact, you just cannot do that in the modern game and expect to stay on the pitch (unless the VAR boys are out getting the coffees in).
Cunha then forced a saved out of The Cherries’ keeper and Hwang was first to react but seemed off balance as he hit his shot wildly into the stands. The replay showed that it was a big chance for the visitors and the South Korean had time to take a touch with no one around him.
Wolves then started to channel their inner tiki-taka as they knocked the ball around in the final third with a series of one touch passes but lacked the finesse as Neto thundered his effort over the crossbar.
Neto passed the ball out from a Bournemouth goal kick and Billing stumbled on the ball, gifting possession to the visitors. The player now has ‘Philip’ on the back of his top but The Cherries’ fans may have been calling him many other names other than those two after this.
Credit: @Wolves
As the resulting ball was played to Hwang on the edge of the box, he lifted it over the defender’s leg into the path of Kalajdzic who slid the ball past the Bournemouth keeper. The late goal was enough to win the game and break the hearts of the Bournemouth players, coaches and fans.
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