Bournemouth vs Leicester City. Premier League.
Vitality StadiumAttendance10,444.
Saturday 30 September 2017 19:34, UK
Bournemouth wasted a glut of chances after being held to a goalless draw by Leicester City at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.
Eddie Howe's side had numerous opportunities to break the deadlock on the south coast, but a combination of poor finishing and a controversial spot kick not given prevented them from securing a deserved three points.
Bournemouth will rightly point to that early penalty appeal that was turned down by referee Graham Scott after Danny Simpson handled March Pugh's goal-bound shot, an offence that would have seen the right back sent off.
As a result, the point keeps Bournemouth in the relegation zone, while Leicester also remain in trouble - sitting 17th in the Premier League table.
The home side were denied a third-minute penalty after good work down the right wing by Josh King, whose cross was touched on to the bar by Jermain Defoe.
However, Pugh was then prevented from converting the rebound by the hand of Danny Simpson, only for referee Mr Scott and his assistant to both miss the clear offence.
That was just one of a number of openings Bournemouth created in the first half, with that man Pugh in particular twice going close to breaking the deadlock, only for the midfielder to miss the target when well placed.
Bournemouth continued to dominate proceedings after the interval and yet totally against the run of play, it was their opponents who created the best opening on the hour-mark.
Marc Albrighton's hopeful ball into the box did not find its intended target Jamie Vardy, but Wes Morgan's clearance fell straight to Shinji Okazaki, but the Japan forward dragged his shot wide of the goal from just six yards out.
The hosts continued to press thereafter, although the closest they came to actually scoring was when Andrew Surman's curler beat Kasper Schmeichel, only to just graze the right-hand post.
Bournemouth are unbeaten in all five Premier League meetings with Leicester City, although four have ended level (W1 D4 L0)
Leicester City have won just five points from seven games so far this season, their joint-lowest return at this stage of a Premier League campaign alongside 1994-95, 2001-02 and 2003-04
The Cherries kept their first Premier League clean sheet in 10 matches, since a 1-0 win over Sunderland in April
Leicester have won just once in their last 10 Premier League matches under Craig Shakespeare (W1 D3 L6), this after winning seven of the first 10 under his stewardship
Jermain Defoe (29) had fewer touches of the ball than any other Bournemouth outfield player to start this match - he wasn't able to hit the target with a shot, either
Bournemouth have won just four points from their seven Premier League games this term, fewer than in both 2015-16 (7) and 2016-17 (8) at this stage of the season
Eddie Howe: "I had no view at the time, I just saw that the shot had been blocked. I have only seen replays just a second ago and it looks a clear-cut handball.
"But I am sure from the referee's perspective he did not see it, otherwise he would have given it.
"The linesman is on the other side, so you hope that someone could see it out of the four of them with the fourth official as well, but it was not to be from our perspective.
"We cannot look at that one incident, we had enough chances to win plenty of games there today and that is the really positive thing. I always say that if we are creating the chances, I think we have the quality to take them on another day."
Craig Shakespeare: "I have to be realistic. We did not start as well as I wanted to, but give Bournemouth credit for that - they played on the front foot right from the start and we could not play our usual offensive, front-foot game and break down Bournemouth.
"And we had to show a lot of resilience today because they attacked and attacked and to come away with a clean sheet shows the resilience of the back five, but also the players in front of them because we had to sit deep and have that low block at times.
"So we could not quite hurt them offensively. But to come away with a point when you have not played well, people will tell you that is a good starting point.
"We know we want to put more points on the board and we now have a home game to come."
The tireless Pugh was outstanding until being replaced with 21 minutes left to play.
The Bournemouth winger was firstly denied an early goal after the officials failed to spot that Simpson had diverted his goal-bound effort with the use of a hand.
And the 30-year-old also twice went close to scoring with low drives before the interval, only to pull his efforts wide of the goal.
Bournemouth travel to Wembley Stadium on Saturday October 14 to take on in-form Tottenham Hotspur when the Premier League returns after the international break.
Meanwhile, Leicester entertain West Bromwich Albion at the King Power Stadium on Monday Night Football.
