Bournemouth are heading towards the promised land of the Premier League.
Eddie Howe’s side journeyed along the south coast and went four points clear at the top of the Championship thanks to Yann Kermorgant’s wonderfully-struck free-kick and a solo effort by Callum Wilson in front of a pack of their delirious supporters on Friday night.
The Cherries are the division’s leading scorers but they did not have things their own way against a cussed Brighton & Hove Albion side who had looked the most likely of the two teams to score before the Frenchman’s 70th-minute strike.
When Wilson sprang the Brighton offside trap 11 minutes later the game was won but up until then the two players who looked most likely to derive any satisfaction from the evening were Bournemouth’s central defenders Steve Cook and the captain Tommy Elphick, two players who left Brighton three years ago.
Cook and Elphick had stood firm at the heart of a mean defence as Brighton surged forwards after the interval. Chris Hughton’s team have now lost three games in a week and failed to score a goal but Brighton were unlucky to leave empty-handed here.
Bournemouth, though, have shown this week that they have plenty of character to go with their obvious flair. On Monday they battled back from two goals down to overcome Birmingham City and they dug in here and took their only two real chances of the evening with ruthless precision. Kermorgant received the loudest cheer of the night when he was substituted by Kenwyne Jones, a loan signing from Cardiff City who rescued a point at Ipswich Town last Friday, and Bournemouth’s travelling fans can now can be forgiven if they allow their thoughts to stray towards visits from Manchester United and Arsenal.
Bournemouth have now scored 89 league goals in a record-breaking season.Howe said: “I’m proud of our goalscoring record but that was a team effort. It was a relief to win what was always going to be a tactical battle and it took a moment of magic to win the game. That’s one of Yann’s specialities. He is always practising those free-kicks and he scored another fantastic goal against Cardiff earlier in the season.
“It is unusual for us to only have two chances like that but we took them and it is a compliment to Brighton that they made us battle so hard. It was good to see the front two link like that and Callum showed real composure to take his chance. Adam Smith gave us a spark when he came on and he turned the game.
“We’ve got four more matches and I want to take 12 points from 12. We can’t accept we are favourites and with the form the other chasing teams are showing we are going to have to do our bit. We’ll have to stay strong until the end.”
Brighton had begun the evening with one eye on events at Craven Cottage where Wigan Athletic were trying to haul themselves clear of the relegation mire, but could only draw 2-2 at Fulham.
Brighton should survive in the Championship particularly if they show the spirit they displayed here but they will not want to go to Middlesbrough on the last day of the season if their survival has not been already assured.
Brighton gave a home debut to Mustapha Carayol, a winger born in Gambia and raised in south London who is on loan from Middlesbrough. Carayol looked lively down the left flank in the first half and kept his marker Simon Francis honest while Dale Stephens and the captain Iñigo Calderón played some neat football as if to prove that it is not just Bournemouth who are easy on the eye.
But Brighton are finding goals hard to come by of late and Leon Best was fighting a lone battle upfront. Stephens fizzed a couple of shots towards Artur Boruc’s goal after the break and Brighton looked dangerous but the introduction of Smith midway through the second half turned the game.
When Smith ran at the Brighton defence he was up-ended by Lewis Dunk who was booked by Craig Pawson.
That was the start of Brighton’s troubles. Kermorgant lined up the free-kick and struck a right-footed shot that beat the wall with a prefect arc to elude the clutches of David Stockdale and Bournemouth were on their way to another victory in this glorious season.
