Howe dreams of Wembley after Cook winner
BOURNEMOUTH 2 NORWICH 1
SIXTH in the Premier League and now into the quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup, no challenge is fazing Bournemouth. Norwich certainly lived up to the ‘dangerous’ tag Eddie Howe had given them pre-match, but even the Cherries’ second string proved too strong. Howe’s fringe first-teamers have guided Bournemouth into the last eight of this competition for only the third time in their history. If the draw is kind, there is absolutely no reason — on form — why Bournemouth can’t reach a first major Wembley final. They have every right to dream and now they are starting to. Junior Stanislas — scoring his fourth goal in four starts at home, as many as in his previous 14 — handed them a first-half lead but Onel Hernandez’s leveller was all the Championship visitors deserved. Up stepped Steve Cook with 18 minutes to play, ramming the ball home to send Bournemouth on their way in what could become an historic season. ‘We have made this step and want to go one more to the semi finals,’ said Howe. ‘It was a tough night for us, we looked disjointed, we lacked a sharpness and fluency in our game that is usually there. It isn’t a game I want to dwell on too much, we’re just pleased to get through.’ Norwich created five good openings in the first half, but Stanislas gave Bournemouth the lead with a moment of brilliance. Taking Jermain Defoe’s pass on the left, he produced a couple of distracting step-overs before an emphatic, top-corner finish. The visitors had struck a post through Dennis Srbeny but deservedly levelled when Hernandez, off-balance, swept a shot into the far corner. Cook’s close-range finish restored the home side’s lead but Norwich should have forced a penalty shoot-out in injury time when Jordan Rhodes sent a header wide from six yards. ‘Sometimes football can be pretty unfair,’ said Norwich boss Daniel Farke. ‘We missed an unbelievable amount of chances and dominated many parts of the game.’