Lions tamed but Woody’s wary
CHERRIES BOSS WORRIES SIDE MAY BECOME COCKY
JONATHAN WOODGATE has told his Bournemouth side not to get over-confident about the playoffs after destroying Millwall.
Bournemouth scored four and it could have been more. They were three ahead by halftime and had another ruled out for offside.
Woodgate said: “It was an extremely good performance – clinical. But you know what football is like. We need to be confident, not overconfident, stick to the game plan.
“The lads have done well but there is still a long way to go.”
David Brooks and Dominic Solanke were outstanding for Bournemouth, who threatened to score almost every time they got the ball. They took the lead in the 16th minute after a slip by George Evans allowed Solanke to play in Philip Billing, who clipped the ball past Bartosz Bialkowski. Arnaut Danjuma added a second after 27 minutes racing on to Asmir Begovic’s long kick to fire home.
Brooks scored an excellent third a minute before the break, collecting a pass from Solanke, running through and cutting into the area before wrongfooting Bialkowski with his shot.
Millwall showed signs of life four minutes after the restart as Jed Wallace fired in a Scott Malone cross but, within two minutes, Solanke should have restored the three-goal advantage but fired Diego Rico’s cross over an open goal from five yards.
Solanke scored in the 67th minute after Billing slid the ball through to him at the edge of the area to finish a fine passing move.
Brooks hit a post from 25 yards and Junior Stanislas fired just wide after a 30-yard run.
Millwall manager Gary Rowett said: “We didn’t get close enough to them. It looked like the game didn’t mean as much to us.
“We got handed a lesson.”
MILLWALL (3-5-2): Bialkowski 5; Evans 4, Pearce 4 (Mahoney 45, 5), Cooper 4; McNamara 6, Kieftenbeld 5, Woods 5 (Williams 78, 6), Mitchell 5, Malone 6; Zohore 4 (Bradshaw 78, 5), Wallace 6 (Burey 78, 5). Goal: Wallace 49.
BOURNEMOUTH (4-2-3-1): Begovic 7; Stacey 6, CarterVickers 7, Cook 6, Kelly 6 (Rico 40 8); Pearson 7 (Smith 86), Lerma 8; Brooks 9 (Wilshere 86, 6), Billing 7, Danjuma 7 (Stanislas 68, 7); Solanke 8 (Surridge 68, 6). Goals: Billing 16, Danjuma 27, Brooks 44, Solanke 67.