FULL TIME: Bournemouth 2-0 Southampton
And that’s that! Bournemouth claim three richly deserved points - and their first league win over Southampton since 1958! Saints didn’t really turn up tonight, but put that down to the Cherries playing a hard game from front to back. They pinged the ball around nicely as usual, but tonight was about hunting in packs, defending well, and taking their chances from set pieces. They’re now eight clear of the relegation zone, and survival in their first top-flight season is very much on the cards!
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90 min +3: Bertrand earns a corner for Saints down the left. Ward-Prowse takes, but Boruc snaffles confidently. That should be that.
90 min +2: Gosling has a shot from 25 yards. It flies 25 yards into the sky.
90 min +1: Smith goes on a romp down the left. His cross flies straight through the Saints area, but is fetched by Ritchie on the other flank. The clock’s whizzing by for the home side right now.
90 min: There will be four added minutes. A ripple of anxiety around Dean Court. The home crowd know how important these three points will be in the context of their battle to stay in the division.
89 min: Ritchie heads into space down the right, sending Grabban scuttling off to the corner. Time is Bournemouth’s friend now, and well they know it.
87 min: So having said all that, Saints naturally muster their first shot on target. Romeu flicks down the inside-right channel to release Mane into the area. Boruc comes off his line to smother at the striker’s feet. That was a brilliant save from a goalkeeper who has had nothing to do all evening.
85 min: Pugh comes on for Gradel. Grabban has a dig from 25 yards out on the left, straight at Forester. A general sense that this game is over: Saints have been low on energy for most of the evening, and they’re looking particularly kaput right now.
83 min: Replays of the free kick that led to Bournemouth’s second suggest it was a generous decision: Van Dijk had simply risen higher to win a header, and Afobe went down easily. Then again, Saints didn’t bother to defend the free kick properly - serious questions will be asked of both Forster, who froze on his line, and Van Dijk, who let Afobe swan in front of him - so there’s only so much sympathy available.
81 min: Afobe is sent scampering after a long ball down the right. He earns Bournemouth’s 984th corner of the evening. This one’s sent long to the far post, where Francis is penalised for pushing. Saints look seriously deflated after that goal.
GOAL! Bournemouth 2-0 Southampton (Afobe 79)
This is as simple as it comes. A free kick for the hosts out on the right touchline, Van Dijk having nudged Afobe as the pair rise for a high ball. Ritchie takes the set play, whipping an inswinger into the box. Afobe makes a run ahead of five green shirts. Forster fails to come off his line, and Afobe is free to guide a simple header into the top right!
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78 min: A long ball down the right wing for Mane. He’s a touch offside, Cook and Francis stepping up just in time. Just as well, because Mane crossed anyway, and his ball beat Boruc: had play continued, there’d have been a tap-in for any Saints player keeping up with play.
75 min: Cook with a full-length dive to clear with a header. Brave, as Pelle’s boot was flying around there too. Free kick, and some welcome relief for Bournemouth, who are struggling to hold onto the ball right now.
73 min: Davis, from deep, plays a long pass along the floor, down the middle of the park. Pelle, his back to goal, turns to the right and bobbles a low shot towards the bottom left from 25 yards. It’s only just wide of the left-hand post. Hearts in Bournemouth mouths there. The away side are beginning to press and probe, finally.
72 min: Tadic is immediately involved, first making a pest of himself down the left, then getting involved in a game of head tennis in the Bournemouth box. The hosts eventually batter the ball clear. This could be a long 20 minutes for the Hampshire Dorset stars, as they look to keep a hold of these precious three points.
71 min: Injuries have totally and utterly disrupted this second half. Now it’s Long’s turn to limp off looking glum. Tadic replaces him. Meanwhile King - who was up until the early hours of this morning waiting for his partner to give birth, congratulations to all - sleepwalks off. Grabban takes his place.
68 min: Space for Gradel down the left. He whistles his cross out of play on the right. It’s all very scrappy at the moment. “It can’t be Charlie Austin’s knee,” writes Dr Chris Brock, “as he doesn’t have one.”
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66 min: There’s nobody near Arter, but he lands awkwardly and instantly signals to the bench to be substituted. Looks like he’s tweaked a knee if the way the physio is manipulating his leg counts for anything. Gosling comes on in his place.
63 min: Pelle’s first act is to head a long ball forward into the Saints box. Cook comes across to clear. Long, desperately trying to connect with a volley, merely kicks his opponent. A proper playground hoof on the shin, and a no-brainer of a free kick to Bournemouth. Both players roll about in agony, though they’re soon up and about. On the touchline, Ronaldo Koeman ludicrously argues with the new fourth official, demanding a penalty! No, I don’t think so, sir. By the way, on the subject of the fourth official, the departed and hospitalised Friend did faint before crashing into the dugout, though word is he’s now feeling OK, if a little bruised and battered.
60 min: Austin looks to have tweaked something. Knee? Hamstring? Dr Murray is an ignorant old quack, but he can report that Austin is limping off. Pelle, having quickly divested his vest, comes on in Austin’s stead.
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58 min: It’s still tatty. Long and Davis take turns to send simple passes out of play. Saints need to step it up a bit here. They’ve not created very much, and Bournemouth are half an hour or so away from their first home win against Saints since 1958.
56 min: Gradel, down the inside-left channel, tries to slip Afobe clear on his inside. But he overhits the pass, and it goes straight through to Forster. A chance spurned. This has got a little tatty.
54 min: Surman meets a third corner in a row. This one’s a clearing header, though, as Saints win their first corner of the game, out on the right.
53 min: Afobe robs Cedric down the Bournemouth left. He slides a ball down the middle for King to chase. King’s not far from getting clear of Van Dijk, but the big defender reads it well, steps across, and sweeps clear. He’s been very impressive this evening.
51 min: Corner for Bournemouth on the left. Ritchie plays it short for Surman, who miscontrols and allows Cedric to sweep clear. But Afobe is soon coming back at the visitors, down the same wing, and that’s Bournemouth’s ninth corner of the night. (Saints haven’t had a single one.) Surman gets on the end of this one too, but it’s a directionless header, wafting up into the air, and once again Saints hoick clear.
49 min: Davis slides a ball down the right wing for Cedric, pushing him towards the corner flag. He crosses deep for Long, who tries to work a bit of space down the inside-left channel. The ball hits the striker’s arm as he shapes to shoot, and the whistle goes for hand ball. A slightly lucky bounce for Bournemouth there, as that wasn’t deliberate by the Saints man, and he was in range to trouble Boruc.
47 min: Gradel takes the free kick, and skelps it deep to King, who can’t quite keep the ball in play at the far post. On the face of it, a waste, but that was a good idea: had Gradel sent that over a bit lower, King would have been heading that back into a packed six-yard box.
And we're off again!
Bournemouth get the ball rolling for the second half. Arter chips a fine pass down the left for Daniels, who is shoved onto the floor by Mane. A free kick in a very dangerous position, and a very positive start to the half by the hosts.
The second half will be delayed by five minutes or so. Kevin Friend is being taken to hospital for checks, so we’ll need a new fourth official. Dean Treleaven is here, and will take up Friend’s duties.
And the half-times in the other Premier League matches: Aston Villa 0-2 Everton; Leicester City 2-1 WBA; Norwich City 0-2 Chelsea; Sunderland 1-0 Crystal Palace. Leicester keep on keepin’ on. Meanwhile Norwich are beginning to play their way into a little trouble, aren’t they. Palace need to wake up as well. This is one magnificent season. Aston Villa aside, good luck predicting what’s going to happen at either end of the table.
News of Kevin Friend: According to BT Sport, the fourth official either fainted or tripped before colliding with the dugout. Ooyah. The poor chap’s cut up his face a wee bit, and is being treated by the local ambulance service. He’s conscious, but a little groggy. Get well soon.
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Half-time entertainment from sunny Dorset Hampshire: It’s Bournemouth in 1961. My sight’s not what it was, but is that a shop called CIGARS (38 to 50 seconds)? Marvellous. Who needs fancy branding?
HALF TIME: Bournemouth 1-0 Southampton
Mike Dean opts to blow for half time and scuttles off down the tunnel. The players follow him. A slightly surreal end to the half.
45 min +1: It’s not quite half time - seconds to go - but the referee’s stopped the game. Word is that fourth official Kevin Friend has somehow banged his head while working on the touchline. All of a sudden, a very strange, subdued atmosphere at Dean Court. Confusion more than concern is the top note right now, as it’s not totally clear what’s happened, but fingers crossed that this is nothing serious and Friend is OK.
44 min: ... the ball hits Long in the chest, six yards out. Bournemouth scream for a penalty, but they’re being cheeky buggers there. Saints can only half clear, and King earns yet another corner - Bournemouth have had about 600, the bookies will be furious - down the same flank. This one ends with Ritchie faffing around on the wing and being caught offside.
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43 min: Arter embarks on a Power Dribble down the inside-right channel. He very nearly breaks into the box, but before he can find the room to shoot, Romeu takes the ball off his toe and hacks out for a corner on the right. From which ...
40 min: Austin is adjudged to have illegally barged Francis off the ball as the pair contest a long pass down the Saints inside-right channel. It looked like a fair shoulder charge, so Austin batters a wild shot into the stand behind the goal in frustration. Not sure whether the referee pedantically booked him for that - BT Sport cut away as Mike Dean was fingering his pocket with a satisfied grin playing across his boat - so let’s assume common sense won the day there, and the card remained sheathed. Smith is then hacked to the floor by Romeu in the centre circle. No booking, that I can tell you for sure, though there probably should have been.
37 min: Ward-Prowse takes an awful chance deep on the Saints right. He’s nearly swarmed by Afobe and Gradel, but manages to dribble between them. Had he been dispossessed there, Bournemouth were tearing clear on goal.
35 min: Koeman decides to make a tactical change. Off goes a sheepish Yoshida, on comes Davis. A move to bolster the midfield. Perhaps he saw that possession stat, eh.
33 min: Bournemouth come at Saints again. They have their tails up right now. Gradel shifts the ball inside from the left, sends Cedric spinning around like a teenager on Teacher’s Highland Cream. From 20-odd yards, he looks to curl one into the top-right corner. It’s not too far over the bar, a decent effort.
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-0 Southampton (Cook 31)
Ritchie takes the free kick, just outside the box on the right. He lashes it into the six-yard box at mid-height, forcing a wrong-footed Forster to parry up and out, his defenders having failed to react. Cook, shaping like Mark Hughes, guides a soft volley down, up and into the unguarded right-hand portion of the net. That’s a tatty goal, but full marks to King for earning the free kick. Fonte wants to have a good think about what he’s just done.
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30 min: Brilliant play by King down the right, winning a ball he should never win as Fonte tries to shepherd it out of play. King makes for the box, tries to diddle his way past Yoshida, fails, and is fouled by Fonte. Free kick in a dangerous position, though. From which ...
29 min: Francis bowls Bertrand to the floor as the Saints man makes off down the left. Saints load the box. Ward-Prowse whips fiercely along a low arc to the far post, where Boruc claims. That was a better free kick than his strikers made it look. He’s a talent with the dead ball, that lad.
27 min: Bournemouth have apparently enjoyed 89% of possession during the last five minutes. Saints have, of course, come the closest to scoring during that period. The inexorable rise of statistics, eh? Jesus wept.
26 min: King’s going nowhere down the inside-right channel, but Van Dijk helps him by shoving him needlessly in the back. A free kick, just to the right of the D. A very dangerous position. Surman nudges the ball to the left for Ritchie, who hits low and hard but straight into the Saints wall. That wasn’t particularly clever.
24 min: Austin gets the better of Francis down the left. He loops a cross into the middle for Long, who doesn’t quite connect with his header. Daniels does connect, sending the ball high into the air. Boruc does well to sprint off his line and claim before Long can have a second go. A split second later, and Long was scoring there.
22 min: Ward-Prowse clatters into the back of Arter, who lands on the meat of his buttocks. No foul is awarded, but Arter sits on the turf awhile, waving his arms in fury, as some midfield noodling is played out around his prone body. It’s quite a nice little vignette.
20 min: Daniels does incredibly well to control a fizzing pass down the left, and races along the wing. He whips into the area. A decent cross, but once again it’s Van Dijk who heads clear. He’s been on the end of just about everything so far. No wonder Celtic aren’t half as good this season.
18 min: Saints on the attack through Bertrand down the left. Long and Austin are lurking, but Francis clears. Romeu chests the clearance down, 25 yards from goal, shapes to shoot, but instead pokes a pass down the inside-left channel to release Mane into the area. Mane’s facing a tight angle, though, and belts a wild effort well over the bar. That was nice football from the visitors; a slightly better pass, and Mane was opening the scoring there.
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16 min: Ritchie goes sliding in on Mane after overrunning the ball. He gets to it first, but then crumps his studs into his opponent’s boot too. You’ve seen yellow cards given for that, even if it looked clumsy and out of control rather than malicious. Mike Dean makes do with a lecture.
14 min: Bournemouth push Saints back a wee bit. Smith finds a yard or two down the right, but his looping cross, meant for King in the middle, is easily dealt with by Yoshida.
12 min: A lot of sterile possession in the midfield for Saints. Eventually Van Dijk gets fed up, and takes a couple of Beckenbaueresque strides down the inside-right channel. Eventually, he takes a shot from the best part of 40 (!) yards. It’s not a wholly realistic ambition, that, is it. And sure enough, it’s easily blocked by the nearest red-and-black shirt.
10 min: Another corner for Bournemouth! Gradel wins this one with a powerful run down the left. And then it’s corner five-and-a-half, because Gradel takes it while the ball’s rolling and has to play it again. The corner’s hit deep, but King can’t get onto Daniels’ knock-down. The ball’s recycled down the left for the busy Gradel again, but his cross into a still-crowded box doesn’t beat the first man, and Saints mop up the danger.
8 min: Gradel, making good down the inside-left channel, slides Afobe into space on the wing. Afobe earns a corner off Cedric. Once again, Van Dijk gets his nut on the set piece and sends the ball sailing clear of the danger zone. A lovely, bright, end-to-end start to this derby. Both sets of fans are still giving it plenty.
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5 min: Mane finds a little space down the right. He cuts back to Ward-Prowse, whose low cross is half cleared. Another chance for Mane on the wing. He shifts the ball forward for Cedric, who reaches the byline and fizzes a low cross to Austin on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. He opens his body and sidefoots strongly, albeit well wide of the right-hand post. A striker of Austin’s quality really should have hit the target there, and well he knows it, holding his head in his hands.
3 min: This is a great start by Bournemouth. First they win a corner down the left. Forster punches Gradel’s effort clear. Then Ritchie tears down the right, and earns his side’s third corner of these early exchanges. This one’s clanked clear by the head of Van Dijk. But the underdogs have come flying out of the blocks here.
59 seconds: King bursts down the right and cuts back for Arter, who blooters hard towards the bottom right. Nearly a dramatic start, but Forster saves well. The resulting corner comes to nothing.
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And we're off!
The Saints get this evening’s march underway. A thundering atmosphere at Dean Court. A long ball from deep, but Austin can’t get anywhere near it. Boruc gathers.
The teams are out! A light show welcomes the players as they take to the field. Bournemouth sport their AC Milan influenced red-and-black stripes, while Southampton wear second-choice nuclear-power-plant-incident green. Meanwhile here’s Richard Hamblin, who’d like to take issue with my glib factual assertion that this game is a Dorset versus Hampshire affair. “Yeah, but historically and pretty much culturally too Bournemouth actually is Hants not Dorset,” he writes, while rhythmically thrashing me over the head with a rolled-up copy of the Local Government Act of 1972. He’s got a point, readers, as said piece of legislation concerning the reorganisation of county and district councils can confirm. Also, having spent a large proportion of my life in Basingstoke, the Dallas of England, I can confirm that being battered around the noggin is very much part of Hampshire culture, so Richard is bang on the money in all respects.
And now a slightly stern Eddie Howe, in full Business Mode, no messing: “Three points tonight would be a huge step. We’re looking at home to set a real platform for the rest of the season. We haven’t been as fluent as we’d like at home, so this is a good chance to put that right. I’m sure our supporters will make tonight an atmosphere to remember. We haven’t done as well as we’d like in derbies of late, so we have it all to prove.”
A very relaxed-looking Ronald Koeman speaks! “We know this is a difficult one. They are fighting against relegation, and it is always difficult to beat such clubs. We played a good game against Chelsea, even if we lost. If we make a good run of good results, we have a chance of Europe. It’s a small stadium and it will be a good atmosphere. I am looking forward!”
Just the one change to the Bournemouth starting XI that earned a point at Watford last weekend. Junior Stanislas suffered a hamstring injury in that match, and he’s replaced by Max Gradel, who only returned from a long injury lay-off on Saturday himself.
Still no Victor Wanyama for Saints. Bournemouth fans won’t be surprised to learn that the card-happy midfielder is serving the third game of a five-match suspension, his most recent meltdown coming against West Ham United a month ago. Ronald Koeman makes three changes to the team that went down at home to Chelsea on Saturday: Matt Targett, Jordy Clasie and Steven Davis drop to the bench, with Maya Yoshida, James Ward-Prowse and Sadio Mane stepping up.
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Tonight's teams
AFC Bournemouth: Boruc, Smith, Francis, Cook, Daniels, Ritchie, Surman, Arter, Gradel, Afobe, King.
Subs: Gosling, Elphick, Pugh, Federici, Distin, Murray, Grabban.
Southampton: Forster, van Dijk, Fonte, Yoshida, Cedric, Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Bertrand, Mane, Long, Austin.
Subs: Clasie, Steven Davis, Tadic, Martina, Pelle, Stekelenburg, Targett.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).
Good evening!
It’s never going to generate the heightened emotions of the Saints-Pompey fixture. Hey, that’s probably just as well. And in any case, a south-coast derby is a south-coast derby is a south-coast derby, and this Dorset-Hampshire brouhaha promises to be a cracker.
The hosts first. And the Cherries are looking for their first home victory over Southampton since they won 2-1 in the old Third Division in October 1958. They’re also hoping to avoid defeat against Saints for the first time in the 21st century. They’ve met four times in recent years, and lost the lot: two League One fixtures in 2010/11, a League Cup tie in the same season, and a 2-0 reverse at St Mary’s last November, Steven Davis and Graziano Pelle the goalscorers in a match which also saw hot fuse Victor Wanyama sent off.
It’s about time they arrested that run of defeats. Eddie Howe’s side have built a little buffer between themselves and the relegation zone. But five points won’t last forever, so a result tonight would be just the ticket.
Saints meanwhile were sucker-punched by Chelsea at the weekend. But the champions are finally regained their mojo late in the season, so there’s nothing to be ashamed of there. Otherwise, Ronald Koeman’s men have been one of the Premier League’s form sides of late, with five wins and a draw at Arsenal in their last seven matches. They’re a formidable proposition, especially as they’ve been stingy in the extreme since the return of Fraser Forster: just those two goals conceded against Chelsea since his return in mid-January.
The Cherries could do with a result; the Saints have been imperious recently. It augurs well for quite the event. As does the record of previous meetings. The clubs have met 22 times in the past. Only three of those matches have ended goalless. Meanwhile look at some of these scorelines through the ages: 3-2, 4-3, 5-2, 7-0. Any of those tonight would do rather nicely. It’s Dorset! Coming straight at Hampshire! It’s on!
Kick off: 7.45pm GMT.
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