Bournemouth 4 - Birmingham 2: Eddie Howe's men fightback to hit the front
WHEN Clayton Donaldson put Birmingham ahead after 18 minutes here yesterday, Bournemouth found themselves in unfamiliar territory in this season’s Championship.
“It’s the first time we’ve fallen behind at home. It’s not a position we are used to,” said Bournemouth manager.
Three minutes later, they were in for another shock as David Cotterill made it 2-0 to Birmingham.
But the Easter holidays ends with Bournemouth back on top of the table, a step closer to the Premier League, after turning their fortunes around, even if they did it the hard way.
Strikes from Steve Cook, Callum Wilson, Yann Kermorgant and Charlie Daniels took them to the summit as this breathless Championship race enters the final few weeks.
They were fourth in the table when they were 2-0 down, but all’s well that ends well.
Howe said: “That’s what this division has been like. It’s incredible. It must be good for the neutral but it’s not so good for us.
“It was tough. Birmingham made it difficult as we knew they would. The key thing from our perspective is that we stayed in the game, kept fighting and got those crucial goals just before half-time.
“We could have gone under but thankfully we withstood that pressure and the crowd stayed with us. That mental strength was key because we know we’ve got goals in the team and we showed how potent we can be. Now we’ll know we can do it again.”
Birmingham manager Gary Rowett bemoaned a series of refereeing decisions that he felt went against Blues.
“They’re the best team in the league but it’s not good enough to be happy only losing 4-2,” said Rowett. “We’ve got to have more discipline.”
There was not much of that in a first half that was more like a game of basketball as the two teams piled forward with little thought of defence.
And when Birmingham attacked, Bournemouth started to look nervous.
David Shinnie’s lofted ball down middle found Donaldson charging through a vast gap between the two Bournemouth central defenders to chip the ball home with advancing goalkeeper Artur Boruc stranded.
Three minutes later, with the defence again slow to react, Cotterill cut in from the right, motored past Daniels and put a low shot across Boruc.
Cook’s mistake almost handed Donaldson another, but he retrieved the situation and then gave his team a lifeline in the 39th minute when he forced the ball in after Blues goalkeeper Darren Randolph failed to come for Matt Ritchie’s inswinging corner.
And in first-half stoppage time, Wilson ran onto fellow striker Kermorgant’s through ball and took it round Randolph before scoring – much more the sort of goal Howe’s team are known for.
Two minutes into the restart, Wilson was brought down by Paul Robinson as he went through on another pass by Kermogant, who scored from the penalty.
After Randolph and his defenders threw themselves in the way of a series of shots, Daniels’ mis-hit effort bounced over the goalkeeper and into the top corner before Robinson was sent off for a foul on Wilson when he was through on goal.
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