Swansea City vs Bournemouth. Premier League.
Swansea.com StadiumAttendance20,878.
Sunday 22 November 2015 00:18, UK
Swansea battled back from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth in a thrilling game at the Liberty Stadium.
All four goals were scored in a frantic first half as the visitors raced ahead through Joshua King and Dan Gosling, before Andre Ayew swiftly halved the deficit and then won the penalty that Jonjo Shelvey slotted home.
Neither side was able to find a winner after the break and the result will please neither manager; Bournemouth were the better team for long periods but the point sees them stay in the relegation zone, while Swansea remain 14th.
Garry Monk dismissed reports before the game he was under pressure due to Swansea's recent run but Saturday's result leaves his team with one win in nine.
Bournemouth began the game on the front foot and were rewarded when poor defending from Swansea gifted them the opener.
Junior Stanislas overplayed the ball as he drove forward and Kyle Bartley attempted to clear but played the ball off Sung-Yueng Ki straight into the path of Stanislas. The Cherries winger took advantage by pulling the ball back for King who tapped home from close-range with just 10 minutes on the clock.
Swansea almost hit back immediately with two chances in quick succession.
First Wayne Routledge got in behind the Bournemouth defence and Adam Federici did well to turn his low shot around the post.
From the resulting corner the ball was flicked on to Eder - starting in place of out-of-form Bafetimbi Gomis - but his header from three yards out lacked conviction and Federici managed to palm it away.
Bournemouth had the ball in the net for a second time soon after as Stanislas half-volleyed Simon Francis' cross in off the post but the lineman ruled it out for offside.
But that reprieve was short-lived as Bournemouth got their second with a sublime team goal in the 26th minute.
Matt Ritchie capped off a nice Bournemouth passing move when he picked out Gosling on the edge of the box and the Cherries midfielder coolly side footed the ball into the top-right corner.
That prompted a chorus of boos from the home fans at the Liberty Stadium but they were soon cheering as Swansea pulled one straight back.
Bournemouth failed to clear a cross into the box and it fell to Shelvey, who headed to Ayew for the attacker to back-heel past Federici from close-range.
The Ghanaian also played a prominent role in the equaliser soon after as Francis was adjudged to have clipped his heels as he drove past him in the box, although replays seemed to suggest Ayew may have tripped himself.
England midfielder Shelvey stepped up to slot the resulting penalty in the bottom-right corner (39) and restore parity heading into the break.
Bournemouth started the second half brightly and enjoyed the majority of possession but were unable to fashion many clear-cut chances. Their best came when the ball fell to Steve Cook from a corner but he volleyed inches wide.
Monk introduced Jefferson Montero, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Gomis in an effort to spark his team into life and Montero in particular looked dangerous as Swansea improved late on and but neither team was able to find a winner.
Phil Thompson's Soccer Saturday verdict
"If I had to say who were the best team I'd probably say Bournemouth - particularly in the first half. They started off very well. They've now pushed Josh King as the centre-forward with Glenn Murray is now on the bench and you can see why they're doing it. He's [King] very clever, good in possession, little bit quicker than Murray - who's very good in the air. They started very well and sensed with this Swansea side are very delicate confidence-wise so they closed them down. They closed Britton, Shelvey and Ki and that's where it all happened.
"They played with one up front and Swansea have got one up front. There was only two minutes though when they held on to the 2-0 and Swansea were back in it."
Player ratings
Swansea: Fabianski (6), Naughton (6), Bartley (5), Williams (7), Taylor (6), Britton (5), Ki (6), Shelvey (6), Ayew (7), Routledge (5), Eder (5)
Subs used: Sigurdsson (6), Montero (7), Gomis (5)
Bournemouth: Federici (7), Francis (7), Distin (6), Cook (6), Daniels (6), Stanislas (7), Surman (6), Arter (6), Gosling (7), Ritchie (7), King (8)
Subs used: Smith (6), MacDonald (6), Murray (6)
Man of the match: Joshua King
