BRUCE TO BEEF UP TOON ON THE CHEAP
HOWE PRAYS FOR MIRACLE RALPH SPOT OF BOTHER
Ings Adams
FOOTBALL can be a very cruel game indeed. When you are scrapping for every last point, Lady Luck rarely smiles.
Of course, it had to be former Bournemouth youngster Danny Ings who plunged the knife into his former side yesterday at a drizzly, grey Vitality Stadium.
And of course VAR, in the fifth minute of injury time, had to rule out a Sam Surridge ‘equaliser’. A point that might yet have made so much difference to the Cherries’ season.
And yes, of course, as they desperately pushed for that equaliser, Southampton had to break away a minute later to grab their second goal through Che Adams.
A cruel, cruel world. Now Bournemouth, after such a bold fight, are clinging to their Premier League life by the most slender of threads. Even a point earned by Watford at home to Manchester City tomorrow night will send the Cherries down and end the great adventure after five wonderful years.
But the reality is that Eddie Howe’s men, still three points from safety but with only three now to play for, are almost certainly gone. And, in truth, they were, once again, not quite good enough. They ran up against Ings – who even missed a penalty – and a Saints defence who were just too strong.
Cherries manager Howe admitted before the game the season has driven him mad. This match will not have helped.
Howe handed a 17-yearold lngs, who had been struggling with injury, a three-year contract in the summer of 2010, then gave him his first-team debut, later taking him to Burnley in a £1million deal.
This Ings is now a very different player, having shrugged off his injury
problems. And he proved it once again.
The Cherries had chances, as Lloyd Kelly saw his low shot defected just wide and Callum Wilson headed over.
Southampton, though, with five games unbeaten under their belts, are a confident side and Cherries keeper Aaron Ramsdale had to dash out smartly to save at the feet of Nathan Redmond. Then James Ward-Prowse headed straight at Ramsdale.
The warning signs were there. Ings had done very little up until four minutes
FROM FRONT PAGE time, let alone on Tuesday night. I feel for my players. They gave everything. We had to win, but now there is a feeling that it slipped away from us.”
Sam Surridge thought he had levelled late on for the Cherries only for VAR to rule it out. Che Adams then doubled the lead Danny Ings had given Southampton in the first half.
Howe (above) added:
“It looked like all our hard work had been rewarded at the end, but
VAR ruled against us. It is such a cruel thing. It feels like we have been on the wrong end of a few of those calls.
“It is out of our hands now, and it is a horrible feeling. I can’t lie – it is very, very painful. This is going to be a very tense week.”
The Cherries (striker Callum Wilson, above) will hope Watford lose their final two games by enough of a margin to flip the goal difference – and that they can win at Everton next weekend.
Referee Craig Pawson before halftime. But then WardProwse whipped the ball across the face of the
Bournemouth area. Redmond touched it on and Ings had plenty to do, with two defenders in front of him.
But a skip sideways left them floundering. The ball was on his right foot, and then it was nestling in the corner of the net.
It was an ominous moment. Howe made changes and the Cherries piled on the pressure.
But Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints kept breaking with menace, as Ramsdale tipped Ward-Prowse’s drive wide. Then Harry Wilson handled in the area.
Ings stepped up to take the spot-kick but Ramsdale saved. He did even better to foil Redmond when he broke through soon after.
As the chances came and went, Callum Wilson glanced just wide and Alex McCarthy saved superbly.
Then, when McCarthy fumbled from Kelly’s throw, Surridge thought he had given them a lifeline. VAR said no.
And then Adams made certain of it all as he rattled in Michael Obafemi’s pass. Heartbreaking for Howe and his sinking Cherries.
SOUTHAMPTON boss Ralph Hasenhuttl admitted he was worried even before 21-goal Danny Ings missed his penalty at Bournemouth.
Ings, chasing the Golden Boot, put Saints ahead but later had a spot-kick saved by Aaron Ramsdale (above).
Hasenhuttl said: “I didn’t have a good feeling, we’ve missed two penalties before. He makes difficult ones but not the easy ones. It’s not important. It’s more important we won. If you see him working for the team and scoring, he’s unbelievably important for us.
“We could have easily scored three or four times. We didn’t and it could have made it calmer. Our opponent was fighting. Their goalkeeper made some fantastic saves.”
The defeat all-but condemned the Cherries to relegation and Hasenhuttl added: “It’s hard to understand why Bournemouth are where they are. We’ve had tough games against them.”
STEVE BRUCE fears his summer transfer budget will be cut as he tries to build for next season.
Newcastle wanted to hand their boss around £50million to spend on new blood, but reduced income as a result of coronavirus restrictions means that kitty will be slashed.
Bruce (above) wants up to four new players and will price deals for Danny
Rose and Valentino
Lazaro this week – with the future of midfielder
Matty Longstaff also high on the agenda.
Bruce said: “I would envisage our budget is not going to be as big as it was intended.
“There are important discussions to be had but we are always trying to find another player or two...or three or four. That’s always going to be my job – to make sure we are competitive when we start up again.”
Bruce, who takes his side to Brighton tonight for their penultimate Premier League fixture of the season, said the performances in a Toon shirt of Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron have shown that quality can be brought in without breaking the bank.“It’s a difficult league and just spending money doesn’t guarantee you anything,” he said.
“It makes it a little bit easier but recruitment is key and certainly Allan and Almiron have improved us at crucial times.
“It’s vitally important that we keep working on that, on trying to find a new Allan or new Almiron; that’s the key to it, the success of bringing people in who improve you. In that respect I think we’ve done OK.
“At a crucial time in January the loan signings helped us enormously.
“And let’s not forget Jetro Willems, who was terrific for us before he got injured.
“We have to keep trying to improve.”
Defender Kell Watts will feature against Brighton, but Toon are missing five injured centre-backs.
Bruce’s team, who have lost 11 games on their travels this term, round off their season on Sunday at home to champions Liverpool.
Tonight: Brighton (away) Sunday: Liverpool (home)