Bournemouth vs Queens Park Rangers. Sky Bet Championship.
Vitality StadiumAttendance10,495.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Bournemouth and QPR at the Vitality Stadium as goals from Jaidon Anthony and Dominic Solanke score to preserve the Cherries unbeaten run and end Rangers'
Tuesday 14 September 2021 22:53, UK
Bournemouth climbed up to second in the Sky Bet Championship table after beating QPR 2-1 in an entertaining clash at the Vitality Stadium.
Scott Parker's team were gifted the lead after 12 minutes, when Jaidon Anthony picked Rob Dickie's pocket and struck his second goal of the season, before Dominic Solanke doubled the advantage with his fifth goal in as many games 25 minutes later.
Sam McCallum's close-range finish halved the deficit with more than half an hour to play, but despite a raft of late chances, Rangers were unable to salvage a point, ending their unbeaten start to the campaign.
As a result, they drop to sixth, while Bournemouth are kept off top spot by West Brom, who were held to a surprise goalless draw by Derby at The Hawthorns.
As two of the division's early frontrunners prepared to face off on the south coast, the possibility of moving top of the league was not the only thing at stake; with neither side having lost any of their opening six fixtures, two of the three remaining unbeaten runs were, too.
Naturally, the chances flowed, though Bournemouth were unable to get out of their own half in the opening 10 minutes or so. Ilias Chair sent a dipping free-kick wide, before Chris Willock had an effort blocked and goalkeeper Mark Travers had to be alert to push an angled effort from Lyndon Dykes behind.
When they did manage to get forward, they did it with menace, and were rewarded with a slice of fortune. As Rangers stopper Seny Dieng swept the ball out to Dickie on the right-hand side, Anthony was quickly on the scene to steal the ball from his feet, dart into the box and finish coolly.
As the Cherries probed, the visitors almost equalised when Chair struck narrowly wide, but eight minutes before the break, Bournemouth had a second. David Brooks rode a challenge to find Solanke, who exchanged passes with Anthony and slotted home from inside the six-yard box.
Shortly after half-time, they had the chance to add a third and kill the game off when Philip Billing struck the inside of the post, but QPR had other ideas and halved the deficit as McCallum prodded in seconds after they had appealed for a penalty when a cross appeared to strike the hand of Adam Smith.
Travers then produced three superb saves to deny Jordy de Wijs, Dickie and Dominic Ball in quick succession late on, before Andre Gray failed to convert after the ball dropped to him just outside the six-yard box as hopes of salvaging a point dried up.
Bournemouth's Scott Parker: "We were far from at our best. In the first half we were clinical but they put us under immense pressure in the second half and we had to show another side to us.
"Mark [Travers] is growing, is listening and working tirelessly on the bits he needs to improve. I thought he was very good at dealing with high balls and he pulled off some good saves when he had to. It was a big performance from him. We have seen tonight that every game in this league is different and that sometimes you have to grind it out."
QPR's Mark Warburton: "It is fair to say I'm frustrated. We started the game very well and then a player makes a mistake. I will never criticise a player for that but it is about how you respond and the second goal was soft. We have to learn and we have to be better.
"Once we got the goal we ended up looking very threatening and got bodies forward. I thought we had got the equaliser right at the end with the header from Andre."
It was another top performance from the 21-year-old, who was on QPR's books from 2006 to 2011.
He had the most touches of any Bournemouth player (69), completed the most passes (31) and won possession on the most occasions (8). A superb evening's work in what is, unbelievably, only his 12th professional appearance.
Both teams are next in action at 3pm on Saturday, September 18. Bournemouth travel to South Wales to face Cardiff, while QPR host Bristol City at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
