Newcastle 0 - 1 AFC BournemouthSteve Cook’s late winner stuns Newcastle to give Bournemouth a lift
Away team scorersSteve Cook 90 +1:31
The soundtrack of boos which greeted the final whistle signalled a significant opportunity missed on Newcastle United’s part and a big chance seized by Bournemouth.
In many ways Steve Cook’s 90th minute winner for Eddie Howe’s struggling side represented a mutual return to old habits. While Rafa Benítez’s initially convincing players ultimately invited memories of countless bad old days when they were noted for losing concentration at set pieces, Bournemouth reminded everyone of why, until this season’s disappointments, they were ranked among the Premier League’s most admired over-achievers.
As visiting fans wondered if a watershed had been reached Newcastle supporters were left fretting over a run of only one league win in the past six games, with some criticising Benítez for an apparently stubborn refuse not to bring Aleksandar Mitrovic off the bench.
Unusually, Benítez fielded two strikers, pairing Dwight Gayle with Joselu but Bournemouth began in such vulnerable fashion that this ostensibly bold decision hardly looked a gamble.
With Howe’s side starting in sluggishly low-tempo mode and proving worryingly slow to second balls, Newcastle dominated. They appeared to have a goal wrongly disallowed for offside when Matt Ritchie’s shot rebounded off a post and Gayle – apparently on a mission to show his manager that he deserves better than the place on the bench he has occupied for much of this season – tucked home the rebound.
Replays suggested the striker had been onside and, having already survived a few scares, Bournemouth had reason to feel reprieved. Foremost among those visiting frights was the moment when Gayle’s header rather fortunately rebounded off Cook’s stomach but goalkeeper Asmir Begovic also did extremely well to repel shots from Christian Atsu and Ritchie.
Yet if Bournemouth’s passing had clearly lost its old crispness and they seemed to have forgotten how to force any sort of pace, occasional cameos served as reminders of the team they used to be.
Indeed with the first period drawing to a conclusion the hitherto underemployed Rob Elliot was stretched to the limit as he finger-tipped Callum Wilson’s header to safety at the end of a surprise Bournemouth counter-attack. With Elliot subsequently diving smartly to keep Josh King’s left-footed shot out, Howe must have felt a glimmer of hope at half time.
After an impressively strong opening 20 minutes, Benítez’s players had lost a little of their momentum and Bournemouth suddenly looked capable of capitalising.
Unfortunately a big part of Howe’s problem has been that his forwards appear to have forgotten how to take their chances, with a prime example arriving early in the second half. Played in by King, Wilson found himself clean through with only Elliot to beat yet somehow contrived to screw his shot wide. As Benítez shook his head, it was all too easy to understand how the visitors had now failed to score in six of their previous 10 League games.
Yet as dusk descended, there was a growing sense that the game had slipped through Newcastle’s fingers. Suddenly their fans realised how much they were missing the injured Mikel Merino’s customary composure and midfield passing vision,
Almost imperceptibly Bournemouth improved to the point where they finished by far the stronger side. Benítez had reason for relief when Elliot and Ciaran Clark somehow combined to, albeit rather fortuitously, keep Marc Pugh’s shot out but any joy was to be short-lived.
Three minutes stoppage time was underway when Andrew Surman swung a late corner in for the visitors and Cook out-leapt everyone to force a close-range header past Elliot before celebrating as if he had just clinched a title.
With games against Huddersfield Swansea and Burnley on the horizon, Cook’s side can now alter this season’s narrative. Will they seize it? And can Newcastle recover from their own autumn wobble?
Guardian
