Bournemouth vs Norwich City. Carabao Cup Fourth Round.
Vitality StadiumAttendance10,331.
Bournemouth into Wednesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final draw, live on Sky Sports
Tuesday 30 October 2018 23:24, UK
Bournemouth secured their place in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup for a second successive year as they beat Norwich 2-1 on Tuesday.
It was a close encounter at the Vitality Stadium, with the in-form Sky Bet Championship side pushing Bournemouth all the way, as a fine strike from Junior Stanislas (37) broke the deadlock in the first half.
Norwich got a well-deserved equaliser in the 70th minute as Onel Hernandez (70) slotted home but two minutes and 39 seconds later, Steve Cook (73) scored the winner to see Bournemouth through.
Eddie Howe's side will now go into Wednesday's quarter-final draw - live on Sky Sports - for a second year in a row, although they lost to Chelsea at that stage last year.
Both sides had a sight of goal in the opening five minutes. Artur Boruc was forced into a save as Mario Vrancic curled an effort towards goal, before Jermain Defoe skied an effort over the crossbar from around 12 yards out. Norwich went close again in the 18th minute as Vrancic picked out Felix Passlack with a wonderful diagonal pass, but the latter sent the ball fizzing past Boruc's post.
It was Bournemouth, however, who took the lead in the 38th minute. Diego Rico's pass picked out Defoe, with the striker taking a superb touch before sliding the ball into the path of Stanislas on the turn. The latter then worked his way into the box and with little room, scooped the ball over two defenders on a tight angle before finding the back of the net.
Norwich dominated the half from then on and Cook nearly scored an own goal as Boruc's save from a Dennis Srbeny shot smacked off his leg before going wide. Vrancic tried his luck again, but saw his effort just go wide, before Srbeny hit the inside of the far post with a thunderous effort on the stroke of half-time.
The visitors hit the post again in the 67th minute, although it was helped on by Boruc this time. Hernandez was played through brilliantly and beat Cook to strike, but the Bournemouth goalkeeper got down low to save and push the ball onto the crossbar before it went wide.
Hernandez did get the better of Cook and Boruc three minutes later as Norwich deservedly netted their equaliser. Srbeny lifted the ball over a sea of players camped around the box, picking out the run of Hernandez down the right as he beat the two Bournemouth men to slot home into the far corner.
But two minutes and 39 seconds later, Cook put Bournemouth into the quarter-finals. A corner from Stanislas found Pugh on the right of the box, but his shot was blocked by the body of Vrancic. The rebound, though, fell to Cook, who fired the ball through a packed box and past Michael McGovern.
Jordan Rhodes should have equalised in the 95th minute to take the game to penalties - which would have been no less than Norwich deserved - but his free header from Vrancic's cross went just wide.
Eddie Howe: "[It was a] tough, tough night for us, Norwich played very, very well, full credit to them. We were below par, that made it a really difficult game for us. I thought we rode our luck but we got through and we'll certainly take it."
Daniel Farke: "We are disappointed, that's for sure. Sometimes football can be pretty unfair, we were really the better side today. We have to accept the loss because we missed an unbelievable amount of chances and I got the feeling we dominated many, many parts of this game.
"We are happy with the performance. We wanted to come here and bring our identity, our philosophy and our style on the pitch and this is to dominate the ball, attack the opponent and be the protagonist on the pitch."
It says a lot about Norwich's performance when the best player in the game was on the losing side. Vrancic was everywhere for the visitors, creating numerous attacks - some of his through balls were nothing short of sensational - having shots himself, including the first inside two minutes, and even put a shift in at the back.
He has had limited chances for Norwich this season and he will certainly give manager Daniel Farke something to think about for the weekend's game.
Bournemouth are at home again on Saturday when they welcome Manchester United in the Premier League. Norwich will also be on their travels for the second game in a row when they visit Sheffield Wednesday in the Sky Bet Championship.
