Chris of death
WILDER’S LEFT ‘BROKEN’ AFTER LATE KILLER BLOW By Graham Thomas
SHEFFIELD UNITED’S players may be “broken” in the words of Chris Wilder – but here they proved unbowed.
The trouble is there are no extra points on offer for character – even for those with the resilience to recover from a 6-0 home drubbing against Arsenal.
Having eked out the most unlikely 2-0 lead through goals from Gustavo Hamer and Jack Robinson, the Blades were eventually left clinging on for a point.
Singles are not much use when you are 10 points from safety, but better teams have capsized under waves of Bournemouth pressure, which brought goals for the impressive substitute Dango Ouattara and a stoppage-time leveller from Enes Unal.
In a game full of incident, Dominic Solanke fluffed a first-half penalty and had a goal overturned by VAR for handball.
The Cherries almost snatched victory through Ouattara deep into added time, but had to settle for their fifth draw in eight games.
The best chance of the opening 15 minutes was Solanke’s penalty miss, which was one of those hilarious-for-the-neutral slip-ups where the taker’s standing leg gives way and slides into the shooting leg.
Perhaps it was justice, of sorts, since replays suggested Tom Davies had nicked the ball in his challenge on Solanke, although VAR checkers thought it was fine.
Blades keeper Ivo Grbic showed new found defiance after his Arsenal nightmare.
The best of Grbic’s saves was a full-stretch diving effort to deny Antoine Semenyo from the edge of the box.
Those saves looked all the more valuable when Hamer rifled the ball into the roof of
the net after he and Ollie
Mcburnie had combined neatly, before Hamer reacted quickly to net a rebound from Jayden Bogle’s shot.
Wilder’s men went into lockdown mode at the start of the second-half, before Robinson forced the ball over the line.
Solanke thought he had replied instantly, when he turned in a rebound from Dango’s Ouattara’s shot, but VAR officials harshly claimed he had used his hand.
Ouattara ensured there was no need for VAR checks when he headed in from a corner in the 74th minute, before Unal stuck out a leg to volley into the corner late on. BOURNEMOUTH: Neto 6; Smith 6 (Scott (74) 6), Zabarnyi 6, Mepham 7, Kerkez 5 (Ouattara (46) 8); Christie 6 (Billing (74) 6), L Cook 6; Semenyo 7, Kluivert 6 (Unal (62) 7), Tavernier 6 (Sinisterra (62) 7); Solanke 7 SHEFFIELD UNITED: Grbic 7; Baldock 6, Robinson 7, Trusty 7; Bogle 6 (Ahmedhodzic (69) 6), Hamer 7, Arblaster 6 (Norwood (80) 6), Davies 5 (Souza (46) 6), Osborn 6; Mcburnie 6 (Mcatee (69) 6), Brereton Diaz 7 (Osula (80) 6) STAR MAN: Dango Ouattara – Lifted his team from 2-0 down with energy and effervescence.
Anthony Taylor 6