Charlie strikes back to have last

CHARLIE AUSTIN came back to haunt Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe by rescuing a point for the Saints against their south coast neighbours.

Southampton striker Austin fired his third goal in eight days on the hour to cancel out Ryan Fraser’s opener.

Austin was on trial at Bournemouth in 2009 but they were too skint to buy him before Howe finally got his man when he was in charge of Burnley.

In the end, Howe was just grateful Austin let him off the hook by somehow failing to hit the target with a close-range header late on when he should have won the game.

Bournemouth were under pressure from the off and almost fell behind after 12 minutes. Virgil van Dijk was left unmarked in the area but he nodded over from a James Ward-Prowse corner.

The home side thought they had scored moments later when Adam Smith rifled in an effort from outside the area.

It was hooked towards the top corner by Jermain Defoe but Fraser Forster’s shoulder diverted the ball behind.

Referee Jon Moss took centre stage on the half hour when he failed to award Smith a penalty, after he was brought down by Sofiane Boufal in the area. Smith was charging into the box off the right wing before the Southampton winger caught him.

However, Moss decided Smith had dived and booked the rightback instead.

But replays showed there was contact and the referee later apologised to the defender.

Denied

Bournemouth’s sense of injustice was nearly compounded when Austin rose highest to head Ward-Prowse’s centre goalwards, only to be denied by Asmir Begovic.

A defensive blunder by Wesley Hoedt gifted the Cherries the lead three minutes before half-time.

Hoedt attempted a Cruyff turn and was robbed by Josh King. He played in Andrew Surman, who in turn found Fraser and he slotted it past Forster.

Saints then had the chance to