Bournemouth vs Wolverhampton Wanderers. Premier League.
Vitality StadiumAttendance11,175.
Match report and free highlights as Wolves boss Gary O'Neil returns to haunt former club Bournemouth; Matheus Cunha and Sasa Kalajdzic score in second half after Dominic Solanke gave Bournemouth an early lead; Cherries' Lewis Cook sent off for headbutt on Hee-Chan Hwang after the break
Saturday 21 October 2023 19:08, UK
Sasa Kalajdzic scored a late winner to give Wolves a 2-1 victory over 10-player Bournemouth on Gary O'Neil's return to Vitality Stadium.
Wolves boss O'Neil, back on the south coast for the first time since being sacked as Bournemouth head coach in June, returned to haunt his former club and keep them winless in the Premier League under Andoni Iraola.
Matheus Cunha's fine strike (47) and substitute Kalajdzic's 88th-minute finish completed an impressive comeback for the visitors after Dominic Solanke had given Bournemouth an early lead (17).
Lewis Cook saw red for a headbutt on Hee-Chan Hwang in the 54th minute and Wolves took full advantage to extend their unbeaten run in the league to four games. Bournemouth stay in the relegation zone.
While O'Neil insisted his first trip back to Bournemouth was strictly business, one could forgive any deja vu he might have experienced standing in the opposite dugout, now managing the team he faced as a first-time Premier League head coach last season.
This time it was a Cherries player, not a manager, who marked his Premier League debut with Iraola handing now-fit summer signing Alex Scott a start.
Both keepers were tested early, the hosts working the ball to David Brooks, who forced Jose Sa into a simple save with a rolling effort from the right. A flurry of activity at the other end of the pitch soon saw Pedro Neto - making his 100th Premier League appearance - smash an effort off the crossbar, Cunha denied by Cherries keeper Neto, and Hwang - in the hunt for his seventh goal in nine games - nod wide.
With the unrelenting back-and-forth nature of the period still sustained it felt like a goal was imminent, and it soon came via another well-linked sequence beginning with Brooks finding Philip Billing. The Denmark international slipped the ball to Solanke, who opened the scoring with a backheeled finish from six yards out, the 1-0 advantage standing at the break despite both sides threatening.
Wolves were level less than two minutes after the restart when Cunha fired past a diving Neto and soon it all began to unravel for the hosts, who were down to 10 players after Cook went in for a headbutt on Hwang and was shown a straight red.
The mood in the stadium, bursting with hope after Solanke's opener, quickly soured as the officials broke up the ensuing fracas, though spirits were somewhat lifted when substitute Ryan Christie was able to break loose and force Sa into a low save. The hosts were then given a boost when Neto squandered a late chance by firing his effort over the crossbar.
The Cherries sparked back to life after Dango Ouattara battled to win the ball deep inside Wolves' half and had chances through Joe Rothwell and Billing, but after deftly defending deep into the second half, saw a potential point slip away when, following a defensive mistake involving Neto and Billing, Hwang played through Kalajdzic to side-foot in the winner.
Wolves head coach Gary O'Neil said: "It's not about me or returning to Bournemouth. Just a really good win for a group that is making progress and working extremely hard.
"Honestly, I feel no different than when we beat Manchester City and Everton. It feels exactly the same. I have huge respect for everybody at Bournemouth. They gave me an opportunity to manage a Premier League football team, thankfully I managed to go six unbeaten which got me on a decent run.
"There's nothing in it for me. Funny experience, coming back and being sat at this desk again. I just enjoyed our performance, nothing else."
He added: "It was a really big win for us, to win on the road for the second time this year. The fixtures have been very tough for us, I think we've had the toughest run of fixtures. I saw an article the other day ranking the fixtures and we were right up there.
"To have got 11 points so far is really good and to win away from, against a good side that will cause teams problems, is really good."
Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola said: "We mostly played like we wanted it, but there are mistakes at this level that you cannot commit and we did.
"We were attacking very well and were doing well, but after Lewis Cook's sending off everything gets much more difficult.
"Even with 10 players, we gave everything. We defended well then at the end we made a second mistake."
He added: "Lewis and Neto know they made the mistakes. We are not keeping the focus to compete and win games. I've not seen the red card repeated, but he was the first one to apologise. He left us in a difficult situation, but we were close to taking at least one point. We conceded in the worst way."
Bournemouth host Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday October 28; kick-off 3pm.
Wolves' next match is live on Sky Sports against Newcastle at Molineux, also on October 28; kick-off 5.30pm.
