Cherries are on top at 10-man Sky Blues
COVENTRY City suffered their first league defeat at St Andrew’s in almost a year against an impressive Bournemouth side who fired themselves to top of the Championship.
The Sky Blues came from behind with Matty Godden pulling Mark Robins’ men level going into the break, but the fallen Premier League side showed all of their quality in the second half when they took a 3-1 lead by the hour mark.
And things went from bad to worse 22 minutes from time when Gus Hamer was shown a straight red card for putting his hand to an opponent’s face following a cynical foul on Fankaty Dabo.
The Cherries dominated the first six and half minutes, during which they enjoyed 73 per cent of possession and promptly took the lead from a well worked Jefferson Lerma strike from the edge of the box.
Teed up by Dominic Solanke, the midfielder struck his shot cleanly and powerfully into the top right-hand corner of Marko Marosi’s net, giving the keeper no chance.
City suddenly came to life after going behind when they began to ask questions of their own going forward rather than just sitting back and trying to soak up the relentless waves of attack.
And it almost paid dividends in the 15th minute when Gus Hamer hit a hard and low angled shot that forced Asmir Begovic to dive low to make a good save.
Coventry almost found themselves two behind three minutes later when several players, including the keeper, failed to deal with a deep cross to the far post where several Bournemouth players attempted to direct the bouncing ball over the line with their heads and boots before the home side finally cleared their lines.
Marosi pulled off a smart save at his near post to deny a longrange effort from Solanke just after the half hour mark before the excellent Dom Hyam slid in to deny Lerma a second after he burst through and went round the keeper, looking to convert from the angle.
But Callum O’hare went agonisingly close when he shaved the outside of the far post before City pulled level from the penalty spot, six minutes from the break.
Cherries’ midfielder Lewis Cook fouled Ben Sheaf just inside the box and Matty Godden stepped up to slam the ball home down the middle to beat the goalkeeper and ensure the Sky Blues went in level at halftime.
Robins made two changes for the second half, introducing
Jamie Allen for Shipley and replacing Ostigard, who was on a yellow card, with Rose.
Bournemouth, however, started the way they had in the first and restored their lead in the 51st minute from a Dan Gosling finish following a slick three man move.
And it was game over on the hour when Gosling was allowed to drive forward and launch an unstoppable shot from 25 yards, with City reduced to ten men eight minutes later.