AFC Bournemouth 3 - 2 Swansea

AFC Bournemouth 3 - 2 Swansea

Bournemouth close in on safety after Steve Cook’s header sinks Swansea

Home team scorers
Max Gradel 37
Joshua King 50
Steve Cook 78


Away team scorers
Modou Barrow 39
Gylfi Sigurdsson 62



Eddie Howe’s clenched fist at the end of the victory over Swansea City suggests this might just be the match remembered for securing Bournemouth’s Premier League status for another season. Even Howe, so level-headed, meticulous and measured in his approach, knows the significance of such a result despite naturally playing down its importance after the match, posing the unpredictability of the division as one final hurdle for his side to overcome. The home supporters left Dean Court singing “We are staying up”‚ after this breathless performance which leaves them 13 points clear of the relegation zone, while off the pitch plans are already being made to increase the capacity at the stadium.

Bournemouth’s players clearly ignored pre-match talk that they were already safe, judging by the urgency displayed here. Max Gradel’s energy caused Àngel Rangel no end of problems. On the other flank, Matt Ritchie gave Neil Taylor a difficult afternoon. The Swansea head coach, Francesco Guidolin, who will return to the dugout against Aston Villa next weekend, will have been disappointed with his side’s first-half showing here. Three minutes in, Gradel, who returned to action last month at Watford after an anterior cruciate knee injury, cut inside from the left to deliver a high ball for Joshua King to sound the alarm bells with a header just over Lukasz Fabianski’s goal. Bournemouth have scored more goals than any other Premier League team in the first 15 minutes and they only looked like enhancing that statistic here. Fabianski then made two fine saves from set pieces, first denying Andrew Surman and then Ritchie’s inswinging free-kick. Swansea ran out of ideas of how to contain Bournemouth’s swarming attacks and the hosts finally found a way past Fabianski when Adam Smith’s teasing cross lured the Swansea goalkeeper away from his goal, pushing the ball into the path of Gradel, who tucked home his first Premier League goal. It was the least Bournemouth deserved. Gradel then rushed straight over to celebrate with his manager Howe, who he phoned every day during his rehabilitation from injury in the Ivory Coast.

“I thought he might be running behind me to somebody else so I didn’t want to commit to him too early,” said Howe. “It was a nice moment and he did not have to do that, although it was much appreciated. He is such a popular boy here and it was a touching moment.”

But Bournemouth’s opener finally sprung lifeless Swansea into action. Swansea’s Gambian winger, Modou Barrow, darted inside from the right flank, before breezing past static Bournemouth defenders Charlie Daniels and Simon Francis and striking his first top-flight goal into the corner of Artur Boruc’s goal. Barrow, who was later withdrawn with a hamstring injury, flourished on his first start since January and you would not argue with Swansea’s first-team coach Alan Curtis’s claim that he was the best player on the pitch. “He gave us a real threat going forward and to score two goals away from home is one of the few positives to take out of it,” said Curtis, before billing their match against Aston Villa as “must must-win”.

Swansea’s wastefulness in possession at times was typified by Bournemouth’s second goal. Leroy Fer, preferred to partner Jack Cork over Leon Britton in holding midfield, surrendered the ball too easily before Gradel picked it up. He found King, who blasted a shot inside Fabianski’s near post from an acute angle. Swansea, still beaming with confidence from their unlikely win at Arsenal, are not short of confidence and soon pulled level. Barrow cut the ball back from the touchline for Gylfi Sigurdsson, who controlled it neatly with his first touch before striking it past Boruc with his second. Barrow’s confidence was infectious and Swansea’s heads suddenly held high.

Their jubilation was soon fractured, though, when Bournemouth dug deep to salvage a priceless winning goal. Ritchie delivered a devious cross from the left, which the Bournemouth defender Steve Cook nodded home past Fabianski, his second goal in three matches. The Bournemouth substitute, Lewis Grabban, almost found a fourth with a cheeky lob but by then Bournemouth’s mission was already accomplished.

Guardian