AFC Bournemouth 4 - 0 MiddlesbroughJoshua King strike sets the tone as Bournemouth batter Middlesbrough
Home team scorersJoshua King 2
Benik Afobe 16
Marc Pugh 65
Charlie Daniels 70
Middlesbrough edged closer to relegation to the Championship after losing 4-0 at Bournemouth following their latest limp display.
In a match they desperately needed to win to boost their ever-diminishing chances of remaining in the Premier League next season, Middlesbrough were level for less than two minutes and collapsed thereafter.
Victory at the Vitality Stadium, followed by a further three points in the game in hand they are yet to play, may just have been enough to revive their season.
Instead, one day after the shock death of the club favourite Ugo Ehiogu, they endured their latest miserable turn under the caretaker manager Steve Agnew, who has overseen four defeats and two draws since his appointment.
The result, which was worsened by the dismissal of Gastón Ramírez, also takes Bournemouth to the relative safety on the Premier League table of 12th, where the south coast club are seven points clear of the bottom three with four games to play.
The ease with which the hosts took the lead did much to demonstrate why it is Middlesbrough who look certainties for relegation.
Their near-uncontested build-up on the left wing created space for Marc Pugh to cross to Joshua King, who from in front of goal and similarly under minimal pressure routinely finished low beyond Brad Guzan.
If Agnew had given Middlesbrough any belief before kick-off, it quickly vanished from then, after which Bournemouth’s fluid football posed a constant threat. In the 16th minute further poor defending led to their second goal. Uncertainty in possession on the edge of the area invited Harry Arter to dispossess Adam Clayton, and when the loose ball fell to Benik Afobe, he struck beneath the onrushing Guzan and into the back of the net.
Bournemouth almost immediately again threatened to score, when Pugh’s classy backheel played in King but forward sent his shot over the crossbar.
The frustrated Ramírez had already been booked for diving after an earlier challenge from Adam Smith when in the 20th minute he lunged in on the lively Pugh and was given a second yellow card by the referee Graham Scott, effectively taking a comeback in the match beyond his team.
By the 29th minute of the match, when Marten de Roon forced a fine diving save from Artur Boruc when shooting ambitiously from midfield off the bounce from Alvaro Negredo’s knockdown, the greatest question surrounded the margin of defeat Middlesbrough faced.
Bournemouth played with patience, and had again threatened through Ryan Fraser when in the 65th minute Pugh extended their lead. A fine pass from the substitute Lewis Cook played in Pugh, who from inside the area curled across the face of goal and into the bottom right corner.
Their finest goal was also their last. After a 70th-minute free-kick was laid off to Charlie Daniels on the edge of the area, the Bournemouth left-back showed exceptional footwork to skip past Clayton before drilling low into the same corner as Pugh.
Middlesbrough’s five remaining fixtures this season come against Sunderland, Manchester City, Chelsea, Southampton and Liverpool. After Bournemouth left them 19th on the Premier League table, and nine points from safety, there looks no way back for the Teesside club.
Guardian
