Thursday 7 October 2021

AFC Bournemouth 2 Sheffield United 1

From the BBC website:

 CHAMPIONSHIP

AFC Bournemouth2Sheffield United1

Bournemouth 2-1 Sheffield United: Cherries go top of Championship after coming back from a goal down

Dominic Solanke scores for Bournemouth
Dominic Solanke's penalty was the former Liverpool striker's eighth goal in all competitions for Bournemouth this season

Bournemouth scored twice in three minutes to recover from a goal down to beat Sheffield United 2-1 and go three points clear at the top of the Championship.

Morgan Gibbs-White gave United the lead soon after half-time as he fired in from Billy Sharp's pass.

But their lead lasted just six minutes as Dominic Solanke converted a penalty after he had been fouled by Enda Stevens.

Philip Billing completed the turnaround when he slid home Ryan Christie's cross with his left foot into the bottom corner.

Lys Mousset should have levelled in stoppage time as he hit the bar before Oliver McBurnie's follow-up was blocked.

Bournemouth's win, coupled with West Bromwich Albion's loss at Stoke City on Friday, saw Scott Parker's side go clear at the top of the table and extend their unbeaten start to the league season to 11 games.

The Blades lost back-to-back games for the second time this season as they drop to 14th place, six points off the play-off places.

Parker made three changes as he returned to the side which beat Luton Town seven days earlier, and they almost went in front after 10 minutes when Billing's 30-yard free-kick was well saved by Robin Olsen as it headed towards the top corner.

Billing should have put the Cherries ahead 10 minutes later when Olsen cleared straight to the midfielder, but with the goal gaping he fired the ball straight back at the grateful Swedish goalkeeper.

The Blades spurned a great chance to go ahead 11 minutes before the break as Lloyd Kelly's mistake saw the ball fall to Sharp, but United's top-scorer blazed over from a tight angle while Ben Davies saw a header bounce over the bar from a corner four minutes later.

Soon after the restart Solanke forced a great save from Olsen as he turned Jordan Zemura's cross goalwards, with John Egan doing well to block the follow-up from Jaidon Anthony.

The three goals all came in a nine-minute period, although United felt the foul on Solanke for Bournemouth's equalising penalty had happened outside the area.

The hosts could have been out of sight with 10 minutes to go had Solanke not hit the side-netting after good link-up play with Zemura.

Three minutes later Gibbs-White saw a free-kick deflect off McBurnie and roll agonisingly wide before Mousset headed against the bar in stoppage time.

AFC Bournemouth manager Scott Parker told BBC Radio Solent:

"I'm delighted with the performance. First and foremost the result was key.

"It's the first time we've gone behind all year and I think it showed a real resilience and character, which this team has got at this moment in time, and what I suspect we'll have for large parts.

"It was a difficult game to play in and, at times, it wasn't as fluid, and that was down to the wind and the rain, but I thought, overall, we had some very good chances and in the end we've got to man up, defend our box - they put balls in the box and you've got to show another side to you.

"So far we've been able to deal those situations really, so we can't say it's luck, it's becoming a bit more of a habit."

Sheffield United manager Slavisa Jokanovic told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"We played good football against a really good Bournemouth team.

"They created problems for our build up and we didn't find a clear way, but we made the same thing for their team too.

"We tried to change the story, we moved from one side to the other side to create things, but unfortunately we didn't win what I believe we deserved today."

On the penalty:

"If I answer you honestly it will be ugly and if I answer you kindly it'll be fake."

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