Bournemouth 2 - 0 Sunderland

Matt Ritchie hits rocket for Bournemouth as Sunderland are blown away

Bournemouth 2 - 0 Sunderland

Home team scorers
Callum Wilson 4
Matt Ritchie 9


Matt Ritchie celebrates after giving Bournemouth a 2-0 lead against Sunderland.

Matt Ritchie has a back catalogue few can rival when it comes to spectacular goals but here he perhaps added a new favourite with a strike so stunning that it would be a travesty if it fails to win an award. It was a fitting effort to match Bournemouth’s most convincing display yet in the Premier League. They are, it is fair to say, beginning to enjoy life in the top flight. Callum Wilson scored his fifth in six games and there were assured performances all over the pitch.

The damage was done inside nine minutes, Ritchie’s volley coming six minutes after Wilson’s opener, and by the time Sunderland started fighting back in the second half, having blundered their way through the opening 45 minutes, it was already too late. They remain winless and their problems in both defence and attack show no sign of improving.

It took only 210 seconds for the first crack to appear and Bournemouth ruthlessly punished them. Dan Gosling collected possession from a throw-in and, gliding forward, picked out Wilson on the edge of the area. The striker shook off Younès Kaboul, who was later sent off in a nightmare performance, with consummate ease before guiding a low finish past Costel Pantilimon. It was so simple from the hosts, so ragged from Sunderland.

While that could have been prevented, there was nothing that could have been done to stop Ritchie’s magic. Charlie Daniels’ corner was headed clear by Yann M’Vila but only to the winger 25 yards from goal. He chested the ball down and in one fluid movement unleashed a left-footed pearler that curled in to Pantilimon’s top-right corner, leaving the 6ft 8in keeper with no chance of reaching an impeccably placed attempt.

Sunderland did grow into the game but the constant positional switches were baffling. Jermain Defoe was stationed on the right, left and up front at various points in the opening 25 minutes. He saw precious little of the ball in all three but when you are badly in need of a goal, it seems quite odd to have the player most likely to find the net stationed on the flank.

When Defoe did get a sniff six minutes before half-time, capitalising on a Sylvain Distin slip, he was denied by Artur Boruc’s leg. A minute later Lee Tomlin drove straight at Pantilimon from 25 yards after M’Vila lost possession in midfield. Kaboul’s nightmare continued and he was perhaps lucky to get away with only a yellow card after cynically dragging Wilson to the ground as the striker headed towards the area. He was the third of the back four to be booked before the break, following earlier fouls by Sebastián Coates and Billy Jones.

There were signs of encouragement early in the second half from Sunderland, and they should have pulled one back only for a terrible call from the assistant referee Eddie Smart. Jack Rodwell, on at half-time for Jordi Gómez, had a shot deflected from the corner and Jeremain Lens turned in at the back-post. Up went the flag but Lens was well onside. Sometimes it is just not your day.

Fabio Borini attempted to mirror Ritchie’s volley on the hour but it flew over and as the clock ticked by Bournemouth re-established their control. The effervescent Marc Pugh went close and Ritchie drove a free-kick over. Sunderland’s misery was compounded when Kaboul saw red for a lazy kick at Wilson, whose pace eventually proved too much, 15 minutes from time. The remainder was a stroll.

Guardian