The Cherries were hoping to bounce back after the home defeat against Blackburn and earn their first ever points at Elland Road. A golden opportunity for the Cherries given that Leeds had lost their previous four games and had not won at home since early August. It came as no surprise that the match kicked off in front of a fairly muted home crowd – there was more noise from the top deck of the bus to the ground than from the supposedly white-hot atmosphere of Elland Road under the floodlights. This did not faze the likes of Rodolph Austin and Paul Green who dominated the opening exchanges in midfield but failed to make any inroads into the Cherries defence.
However, it was not long before Ryan Fraser and Tokelo Rantie offered plenty of trickery just outside the penalty area but failed to get the better of ex-Cherries captain Jason Pearce and the rest of the Leeds defence. A number of fouls on the diminutive Aberdonian wing wizard resulted in a succession of free kicks that came to nothing. After a period of sustained Bournemouth pressure, Jack Collinson found the ball at his feet but could only hook his shot straight at Paddy Kenny. After 25 minutes, however, a game of pinball in the Cherries box almost resulted in Ross McCormack putting Leeds ahead. After 30 minutes of an evenly-contested match, the game was turned on its head after Ryan Allsop was adjudged to have up-ended Noel Hunt in the penalty area. The referee pointed to the spot and red-carded Bournemouth’s keeper for a professional foul. Darryl Flahavan was instantly flung into the deep end at the expense of Ryan Fraser to face Ross McCormack who looked set to atone for his earlier miss. The Scottish striker’s shot was weak and Flahavan dived low to his left to pull off a magnificent one-handed save. Elliott Ward just did enough to thwart Michael Tonge scoring the rebound.
The Cherries fans celebrated with a rendition of ‘We all hate Leeds’ and ‘F*”king useless, duh-duh-duh-duh’. Given their numerical advantage, the rest of the first half was dominated by Leeds with the Cherries goal leading a charmed life at times. A comedy of errors from both sides as Leeds went in search of their elusive first goal. Rather inexplicably 0-0 at half-time with the Cherries faithful sensing another Leeds onslaught after the restart. Inevitably it wasn’t long before Leeds took the lead. After a rare Bournemouth attack broke down, Stephen Warnock found himself in acres of space and ran down the left wing. His teasing cross found the boot of Ross McCormack who deftly planted the ball past Flahavan.
Bournemouth responded by making occasional forays past the halfway line which soon petered out. Moments after Andrew Surman had replaced Marc Pugh in midfield, Jack Collison drove forward and saw his curling shot from just outside the area well saved by Kenny. Rantie was put through by Surman after 68 minutes but went sprawling to the ground as he ran into the penalty area. Shouts for a penalty were more in hope than in expectation.
After 73 minutes, however, Bournemouth took everybody by surprise and scored an equaliser. Ian Harte’s free-kick for a foul on Steve Cook by Rodolph Austin was floated high onto the head of Eunan O’Kane who nodded the ball into the path of Lewis Grabban who smashed the ball past Kenny from close range. A classic example of route one football from a set piece to send the 300 or so Cherries fans into raptures.
‘We’ve only got 10 men’ sing the away fans who start to dream of an unexpected point against the fallen Yorkshire giants. Leeds responded by laying siege to the Cherries’ goal and went close a few minutes later with Flahavan getting a hand to save Austin’s shot and scoop up the loose ball. Parity lasted for just seven minutes as Leeds soon regained the lead. A cross from the left was only partially cleared and found substitute Dom Poleon 12 yards out. His powerful shot sneaked into the net amongst a crowd of players to give the Cherries another mountain to climb with just ten minutes left on the clock.
‘We equalised too early’ commented one Exile. The Cherries pumped a number of balls into the box in search of an equaliser but looked unlikely to salvage a draw against a resolute defence. Another away defeat but a hearty performance after such an early set back that had such a profound impact on the game.
Jack Collison – authoritative debut in midfield. Glimpses of Premiership class coupled with drive and energy.
AFCB: Allsop, Francis, Cook, Ward, Harte, Fraser, O'Kane, Collison, Pugh, Rantie, Grabban
Subs: Addison, Elphick, Cornick, McDermott, Flahavan (for Fraser, 32 mins), Surman (for Pugh, 63 mins), Pitman (for Rantie, 77 mins)
Jon Blake, South Shields