Stoke City vs Bournemouth. Premier League.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance29,500.
Saturday 21 October 2017 18:10, UK
Quick-fire goals from Andrew Surman and Junior Stanislas in the first half were enough to hand Bournemouth a priceless 2-1 victory against Stoke City at the Bet 365 stadium.
Bournemouth took the lead after 16 minutes through a fine finish from Surman, before Stanislas doubled their advantage two minutes later from the penalty spot after Ryan Shawcross had upended Benik Afobe.
Stoke rallied in the second half and set up a barnstorming finish when Mame Biram Diouf bundled the ball in with his thigh just past the hour mark.
However, despite a Stoke siege in the second half, Bournemouth stayed resolute to secure only their second win of the season and move four points clear of Crystal Palace at the bottom, while their opponents now join them in the relegation places.
Despite winning just one of their previous seven games, Stoke started slowly and they were punished for their lethargy as Bournemouth took the lead. Adam Smith burst down the right flank before feeding the ball into Stanislas inside the area and he teed up Surman to score with a wonderfully taken effort from the edge of the area.
Just a couple of minutes later Stoke were 2-0 down as Shawcross haplessly bundled Afobe to the ground after failing to sort out his feet. Stanislas took responsibility from the spot and calmly slotted it past Jack Butland after sending him the wrong way.
The visitors almost added a third late on in the first half but Butland was on hand to make a miraculous stop to deny Jordon Ibe, after the winger's shot took a deflection off Shawcross.
Just a minute later, though, Stoke almost dragged themselves back into the game as Erik Pieters' pinpoint cross from the left was met by the head of Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, but the Cameroon international only succeeded in nodding his effort agonisingly wide of the far post with Asmir Begovic rooted to the spot.
Stoke piled on the pressure after the interval and eventually got their reward on 63 minutes as Diouf netted his third goal in as many matches by guiding the ball up and over Begovic, after the ball ricocheted into his path via Choupo-Moting's knockdown at the far post.
With 15 minutes remaining, Stoke had a penalty appeal of their own waved away after Jese Rodriguez was upended by Adam Smith.
A late Stoke onslaught ensued and while they dominated possession in the final stages, they were unable to find an equaliser, meaning Bournemouth held on to secure their first three points away from home this season.
Mark Hughes: "We didn't cope too well with the conditions in the first half and obviously we made a couple of mistakes, giving away a penalty almost immediately after they had scored the opening goal.
"Second half, obviously with the wind on our backs, we made a lot better use of the ball and got some decent balls in from good areas but we couldn't find those final touches that we needed.
"Bournemouth, as is their want - and they did exactly the same last year - they just killed the game and wasted time. Unfortunately when you go behind it is difficult and as an away team why wouldn't they do that?
"In the second half we were the team that was really trying to force the issue whereas Bournemouth were just trying to keep us at bay but the damage was done in the first half unfortunately."
Eddie Howe: "It was a massive, massive game today especially with Chelsea to come next week. We knew the importance of not becoming detached from the teams above us so that was a really gritty performance, especially in the second half.
"It was contrasting halves form us really as in the first half we moved the ball really well, some of our attacking play was really incisive and we looked like we could score goals and we got the two.
"But you did fear with the weather conditions that the second half would be a different game and it was but thankfully we showed our resilient side and managed to see the game out.
"At this level of football you can't give yourself too much to do and with each game going by that you don't win the task becomes tougher so we were well aware that we need to win quickly and this is a tough place to come so it's a special win for us."
A constant threat all afternoon, Junior Stanislas' contribution was crucial to Bournemouth's win as he provided the assist for Andrew Surman's opener before scoring the winner himself from the penalty spot shortly afterwards. Despite lining up as an inside forward on the left wing, Stanislas roamed all over the pitch, intelligently finding pockets of space in the final third from which to hurt Stoke with his direct dribbling and incisive passing.
Stoke City travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford next Saturday while Bournemouth have a Carabao Cup game against Middlesbrough to look forward to on Tuesday, before switching their attentions back to the Premier League for the visit of Chelsea on Saturday.
