AFC Bournemouth 1 - 1 West BromLate equaliser by Bournemouth’s Matt Ritchie denies West Brom an away win
Home team scorersMatt Ritchie 82
Away team scorersJose Salomon Rondon 16
Matt Ritchie’s late goal salvaged Bournemouth a point as they condemned West Brom to an eighth Premier League game without a win. Salomon Rondon headed Tony Pulis’s regimented and defensive-minded visitors into the early lead, but Claudio Yacob’s mistake gifted Ritchie the late leveller.
Craig Gardner missed a first-half penalty for the visitors, who were unable to hold out in a low-quality game.
The draw leaves both teams on 42 points with one game to play, with Bournemouth clearly the happier having secured their top-flight future in their maiden Premier League campaign.
Bournemouth’s attack proved toothless for the majority of the game, the hosts hogging possession but wasting almost all that superiority. West Brom’s sole defensive error, in contrast, cost them all three points.
Bournemouth failed to pull apart West Brom’s double-banked defensive lines to generate any sustained threat, despite dominating territory and possession. The visitors were happy to let Bournemouth knock the ball about in front of them, lurking with intent to hit the hosts on the break.
It paid off as they opened the scoring on the quarter-hour, Jonny Evans’s neat cross allowing Rondon to hustle in front of the defensive cover to nod past Boruc.
Bournemouth’s ineffective attacking forays continued for the brunt of the half, until Tommy Elphick’s rustic challenge on Craig Dawson. The defender had no arguments in conceding the penalty, but was to be offered a hefty reprieve from his goalkeeper. Boruc palmed Craig Gardner’s average strike on to the crossbar, and the West Brom midfielder was unable to connect cleanly under pressure from the rebound.
After the break the pattern of West Brom shutting the door on Bournemouth’s attacking game continued unabridged.
Junior Stanislas wasted two half-chances with shots from distance, before substitute Callum Wilson dragged wide after racing into the box.
Rondon flashed a header wide in a rare West Brom foray, before Pulis threw Saido Berahino into the mix in a bid to drag his players slightly further up the field and Berahino drew a smart low save from Boruc with his first meaningful touch.
Josh King blazed well wide on a break from the hosts, and then suddenly Bournemouth were level. Steve Cook’s long throw drew an unforced error from Claudio Yacob, his unwitting flick gifting Ritchie the equaliser.
The substitute midfielder raced on to the loose ball and nodded past the stranded Foster for the equaliser
That forced West Brom to chase the game and Dawson struck the base of a post from 20 yards, before Rondon just failed to latch on to Berahino’s threatening ball in the box.
Guardian
