Bournemouth vs Birmingham City. Sky Bet Championship.
Vitality StadiumAttendance8,708.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Bournemouth and Birmingham at the Vitality Stadium as goals from Ryan Christie, Dominic Solanke and Jaidon Anthony steered the 10-man Cherries to victory; Jefferson Lerma sent off after their second
Wednesday 9 February 2022 23:53, UK
Dominic Solanke scored his 20th goal of the season to help Bournemouth move back into second place after an incident-packed 3-1 win at home to Birmingham.
Ryan Christie opened the scoring and Jaidon Anthony sealed the victory as the Cherries made amends for Sunday's shock FA Cup defeat at home to non-league Boreham Wood.
The hosts had Colombian midfielder Jefferson Lerma sent off in the second half two minutes before Onel Hernandez briefly made it 2-1.
Bournemouth handed league debuts to two of their five transfer deadline day signings - Nat Phillips and Todd Cantwell - while Kieffer Moore and Siriki Dembele were named on the bench.
Cantwell took just six minutes to make an impression, whipping in a delicious left-wing cross that Solanke narrowly failed to connect with from six yards out.
Four minutes later Phillips had to clear Lyle Taylor's goal-bound header over his own crossbar.
Lee Bowyer's Birmingham were looking to arrest a run of only one victory in 10 league games but the visitors found themselves behind in the 17th minute.
Christie's initial curling shot was kept out by the crossbar with Neil Etheridge beaten but Philip Billing put the rebound back into the six-yard box and Christie tucked home from close range.
Bournemouth had a loud penalty appeal turned down when Birmingham defender Kristian Pedersen slid in to dispossess Solanke and the ball appeared to strike his trailing arm.
The hosts doubled their lead on 31 minutes with Christie this time the provider.
The Scot played in Solanke with a precise slide-rule pass and the former Chelsea and Liverpool striker fired into the bottom corner with a precise first-time finish.
It could have been 3-0 in the 35th minute when Billing headed against the outside of a post from six yards.
Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers was not seriously called into action until seven minutes into the second half when he made a superb one-handed save to keep out Gary Gardner's bullet header.
The Cherries responded to the scare with a swift counter-attack which needed Etheridge to come racing off his line to prevent Solanke getting a shot away.
The game threatened to turn on its head after a crazy two minutes in which Bournemouth had Jefferson Lerma sent off and Birmingham pulled a goal back.
Lerma was shown a straight red card in the 67th minute for a late lunge on Blues substitute Hernandez.
Hernandez promptly reduced the arrears with a strike from the edge of the penalty area that took a big deflection off Phillips.
It could have been 2-2 moments later when fellow sub Lukas Jutkiewicz saw his effort from point-blank range turned behind by Travers.
But Anthony sealed the points with 16 minutes to go with a neat finish into the corner after a jinking run into the penalty area.
Bournemouth's Scott Parker: "I thought in the first half we looked every bit of a top side. I asked my players to give us a reaction and give the fans a reaction to what happened on Sunday and I thought in the first half we were exceptional. Two at half time could easily have been three or four.
"The second half changed the game but even after they scored we showed big character to score and make it 3-1. That gave us a bit of oxygen and from there we had to hold on. I am very pleased with the result and the reaction of the team because after Sunday the players were broken a little bit and disappointed. They proved a point tonight."
Birmingham's Lee Bowyer: "We gifted them two goals and missed a couple of chances ourselves in the first half. After the first goal we lost a bit of confidence and the second one we conceded was just as bad. In the second half we had a right go, put some great balls into the box and asked good questions of their defenders.
"We deserved the goal and once they went down to 10 men we had some good chances. We did not take the chances and that is the difference, they were a bit more clinical. They go up the other end and score and it is game over but I cannot ask for any more of my players."
