Saints made hard work of a game that they dominated but just couldn't close out, missing several great chances and a penalty setting up an injury time finish that saw VAR save us from another draw and put the Cherries on the brink of relegation.

Ralph Hasenhuttl restored his first choice side, but was missing Jan Bednarek who missed the game with a muscle injury.

His team started brightly but Bournemouth had a clear game plan and it didn't appear to involve too much pretty football, it was route one all the way, with the ball hoofed forward at every chance and looking to get the ball in the box from set pieces.

In the main though Saints coped and when they didn't Alex McCarthy was in fine form and he soon started to command his box and deal with the crosses.

In front of him both Jack Stephes and Jannik Vestergaard coped with the aerial bombardment and got in some timely interceptions when needed.

Danny Ings scored the opener just before half time with a typical finish, getting the ball and running across the edge of the box before placing the ball in the far corner, the lead was deserved from our doinance and possession, but you felt harsh on the Cherries who had huffed and puffed and gone for our jugular with a vengeance but ultimately had lacked the quality.

In the second half it was very much a carbon copy of the first, Saints having a lot of the ball and Bournemouth pumping it forward with increasing desperation, Saints should have finished it off when they won a penalty, but Danny Ings fired tamely into the corner and the keeper guessing right saved easily, this means that Saints have missed 3 of the 4 penalties that they have had in the Premier League this season.

In the closing stages Bournemouth kept pumping the ball forward with seemingly half their team strikers and started leaving gaps at the back and we really should have put the game to bed before it went into 5 minutes of extra time and the drama started.

There was less than a minute left when one of countless long throws was again hurled into the box, it was nodded on and Alex McCarthy previously faultless couldn't hold the ball and spilled it out to Surridge who fired home an equaliser to send the home team wild.

But their celebrations were cut short when suddenly VAR told the ref to hang on a minute, a review took more time than it needed, but Callum Wilson's leg was clearly offside in the build up from any angle and the goal was quite rightly disallowed.

Bournemouth were now totally dejected, and in the 4 minutes added on to the initial 5, Che Adams doubled his tally for the season with a goal that could be best described as Danny Ings esque to put the game beyond doubt.

The final whistle was not long after the restart, this goal could be prove fatal to Bournemouth come the final day.

In truth the draw was no good to Bournemouth, if the equaliser had stood it would not have changed much they would still have had to go to Everton and win next week whatever, it just makes it a little more complicated.

The Saints performance was comprehensive in terms of match stats and the TV gave Ramsdale in the Bournemouth goal man of the match, but truth is our spirit carried us through, we didn't do too much wrong, but too often we failed to clear or gave the ball away cheaply as well as kill off the game when we had the chance.

But there were still plenty of plus points, Kyle Walker Peters impressed and had his best game of his loan spell, he can keep the ball and use it well and is a tidy player and is growing in confidence going forward.

Nathan Redmond for me looked a little jaded, but he was still a constant threat and his assist for Ings goal means that is three consecutive matches he has achieved an assist.

Che Adams scored a great goal and is showing why we bought him and Danny Ings is just sublime, things are starting to look good, we still need a key signing or two, but we have a decent squad with spirit and playing for their manager.

In contrast Bournemouth looked like they had lost their motivation spirit and organisation, Eddie Howe has to shoulder most of the blame for this, his side have barely won a game since Xmas the question is why have they gone into freefall since November when they were in the top 7 and we were in the bottom 3, back then Bournemouth fans were already gloating about this fixture and how they were going to send "The Scummers down" they are not gloating this evening.

Photo: Action Images

NewburySaint added 17:41 - Jul 19 Oh, how sweet!
3

saintmark1976 added 18:04 - Jul 19 Hard to understand how a team that beat us so convincingly at St Mary’s has managed to become so poor just a few months later. Still, you can only defeat what is in front of you. So as NewburySaint says a sweet result. I’m not so sure Bournemouth will be relegated even now. A win at Everton together with Man City and Arsenal each getting a hat full against Watford and they could still avoid the drop.

-1

SaintNick added 18:06 - Jul 19 Everton are no push overs at home and Villa are capable of getting 4 points from arsenal at home and a safe west ham away so don't write them off
2

Number_58 added 18:24 - Jul 19 Excellent summary Nick. Good to see VAR doing its job. Without it we would have been robbed of two points by what turned out to be a fairly clear offside. The potential implications to Watford and Villa would have been immeasurably greater.
4

Consigliere added 18:45 - Jul 19 In truth it never really felt as though we were going to lose this game even though we were firing on only 5 cylinders and a draw looked very much on the cards, but an immense display from KPW in particular kept our noses just ahead until the last minute goal from Adams. We will need to be better for the last couple of games though as we can't expect them to be so anxious in front of goal as Bournemouth were today. Hope they stay up, felt very sorry for Eddie at the end.

1

claus5 added 18:56 - Jul 19 only firing on 5 cylinders?
0

cynicalsaint added 18:57 - Jul 19 Couldn't have scripted it better! keeping it at 1-0 where they were always in with a shout, the VAR decision after they thought they'd salvaged a point. Adams scoring a proper goal to finish them off. Perfect.
5

WestSussexSaint added 19:21 - Jul 19 A fair assessment of the match Nick. Bournemouth were always going to give it a go but I think we generally had enough quality to see them off. TV gave MOM to the Bournemouth keeper and although he did keep them in it I think McCarthy was in great form and edged it for me.
2

IanRC added 19:39 - Jul 19 Hope Watford go down if they have sacked Nigel Pearson.
6

halftimeorange added 20:48 - Jul 19 An accurate summary. Saints should have won comfortably. We did miss Bednarek. I also applaud Obafemi for setting up Che Adams' goal.
1

felly1 added 20:53 - Jul 19 Another decent if unspectacular performance. Really hope we can take this form and confidence into next season. We've got a nice blend of players coming into their prime and some promising younger guys who hopefully will continue developing into consistent Premier league performers. The question is will a 15 plus million pound player improve us?
3

saintsnutcase added 21:15 - Jul 19 Unpopular opinion - Vestergaard was an important reason we didn’t concede in the second half. He gave the ball away a lot bit his defending was impressive against their aerial bombardment.
6

schatfield added 21:35 - Jul 19 Vestergaard is a strange one........played alright but he was constantly outjumped by guys a third of his height on corners! The 2 strikers took their goals well. Felt sorry for Eddie Howe at the final whistle....
0

SaintPaulVW added 22:28 - Jul 19 I thought the defence did very well. Stephens and JV weathered a pretty ferocious attack. JV made a few errors but usually managed to recover. His big problem is that he is too slow, when he loses the ball, misses a tackle or goes to ground he can't recover quickly. He just doesn't suit our system where the forwards and defenders are stretched at times by the high press. I'm sure in a system where the team moves as a unit he would look far better. Did very well today though. Redmond has it all until that final ball. Should have scored today. Adams finally just hit one without taking an extra touch. Fingers crossed that will be the start of a good run for him now. PEH plus £15 mill and KWP would be okay in my book. I'm looking forward to the Sheffield Utd game. COYS!

5

Flamingbankers added 00:41 - Jul 20 We were the better footballing side as Bournemouth tried to disarm our centre halves and back four by hoofing balls forward to their speedy forwards (Tottenham did it the correct way against Leicester) Desperate stuff - which surprised me beacause thought Howe was better than that. McCarthy clearly MOTM for me. Romeu -a rock, KWP played well, as did Stephens, Prowsey defended well and put in his usual shift.However, I spent most of the game wishing Redmond had a decent pass the majority of the time, or that he scored 1 in 3 or 4 instead of 1 in 20 or that he possessed intelligent quicker judgement - or perhaps him really being the excellent player inter Milan might think he is. Still another assist - we must be thankful for modest mercies as Saints fans - or so we're told. The smart goal from Che should be given the credit it deserves.

6

davidargyll added 05:48 - Jul 20 Love it love it love it. We are starting to look like a good team in the making. And what’s more we generally have shown that we are a very fit side and it’s really paid off by our last few results. The Cherries have got their just deserts after gloating at us. So feel sorry for Eddie Howe? Come on! If they’d won would he have felt sorry for us? He would have banged on about how they’d deserved to win, and stay up, blah blah blah. He’s been touted around together with Sean Dyche as the best young manager around which he has done nothing to dispel. Face it, their last few weeks’ display by some perfectly good players has shown he is no better than below average.

6

highfield49 added 11:22 - Jul 20 Job done, fair result. Could do with KWP being signed asap, anyone recall or know if there was an "option to buy" clause in his loan contract? My slight concern is that the mini season has enabled RH to field a core of players at a very high intensity, which has proved to be a brilliant strategy in the short term but difficult to maintain over a full season? We don't have too many squad players able to pick up the intensity and I'd certainly be looking to give Harry Reed a new contract rather than hang on to the likes of Boufal who doesn't enjoy the hard graft. Fitness, intensity and team working seem to be the criteria so Lemina, Hoedt and others need not apply. However, from admittedly limited appearances, maybe Carrillo is worth another look as we're paying his wages? I never saw anything but effort when we were struggling and he could give attacking options over the long haul of a full season.

3

SanMarco added 14:42 - Jul 20 Champions League away form and relegation home form. Interesting that even with no crowds in this mini-season we have been better away. I don't really understand it. The Hojburg cash + money from selling some deadwood needs to be carefully invested. Some of it needs to go on KWP and some on a reasonable CB, all we need then is to keep Ings and the manager and things look quite good!! Being a pessimist my worry is that Ings will go. Yes we would get lots of money but we got that for Van Dick and have hardly had a decent CB since. Take the Ings goals away and we would be a lot nearer the bottom.

0

the_saint added 18:31 - Jul 21 Just remembered 5 Bournemouth lads at the train station trying to bait me when I had my two young sons with me saying who was more crap everton or saints oh how I would love to see their faces now
1

Blogs 31 bloggers

Sunderland Polls