BOWYER: WE BLEW IT
Cherries slip closer to drop after brave fight Howe ‘devastated’
BOURNEMOUTH were pushed closer to the relegation trapdoor but refused to go down without a fight.
Goals from David Silva and Gabriel Jesus secured a hard-fought win for Manchester City to leave the Cherries’ five-year spell in the Premier League hanging by a thread.
Eddie Howe had claimed before this game that “nothing is impossible” – but following it he will know deep down that his side’s mission to beat the drop is now huge, following eight defeats in the last 11 league games.
It could have been so different had the visitors taken their chances before sub David Brooks netted his side a consolation goal with two minutes remaining.
With this weekend’s FA Cup semifinal against Arsenal in mind, Pep Guardiola made six changes from the side that thrashed Brighton.
John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan, Silva, Fernandinho, Nicolas Otamendi and Phil Foden all returned, while Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne were on the bench.
The Cherries also rang the changes, with Steve Cook replacing the injured Nathan Ake. There were also starts for Joshua King, Junior Stanislas and Philip Billing.
Howe’s men had to get something from this clash to boost their chances of
LEE BOWYER slammed his Charlton side after he was denied a fairytale first return to St Andrew’s on his big audition.
The Charlton boss – hotly tipped to succeed the departed Pep Clotet at Birmingham – thought his side had won it.
But then Lukas Jutkiewicz popped up with an equaliser in the 93rd minute.
Charlton are two points above the drop zone and Bowyer said: “We should have won – we had so survival, but looked doomed within six minutes after Silva put his side ahead.
Jefferson Lerma hacked down the Spaniard and he exacted his revenge with a sublime, curling free-kick over the wall and into the top corner.
Howe must have feared the floodgates might open but his side dug in and deserved to find themselves level following a good spell that pinned City back.
King threatened in the 22nd minute with a shot on the turn that went just wide, before Ederson was forced into a superb save to keep out a Stanislas free-kick, touching the ball on to the post.
Moments later, Otamendi was forced into a goal-saving block on Dominic
BIRMINGHAM CHARLTON 1 1
many chances – we should be safe by now.
“We couldn’t see the game out. The whole team should have managed the game better.”
Birmingham missed a golden chance to take a first-half lead when Scott Hogan’s 34th-minute penalty hit keeper Dillon Phillips and he blazed the rebound over.
Macauley Bonne put
Solanke, while Billing headed over from the resulting corner.
City were going through the motions but in an instant they punished the Cherries to make it 2-0 in the 39th minute.
Silva fed Jesus, who weaved past two defenders before drilling a low shot into the far corner. It left Howe’s men with a mountain to climb.
It was one they never looked like scaling – even though it wasn’t for the want of trying. VAR denied King a goal, deemed offside by the length of his big toe, before Brooks’ late strike set up a frantic finish.
MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Ederson 7; Walker 6 (Garcia 46, 7), Stones 7, Otamendi 7, Mendy 6 (Zinchenko 76); Gundogan 7 (Rodrigo 68, 7), Fernandinho 7, D SILVA 9; B Silva 5 (Sterling 46, 7), Jesus 7 (Mahrez 76), Foden 6. Subs: Laporte, De Bruyne, Carson, Doyle.
BOURNEMOUTH (4-5-1): Ramsdale 6; Stacey 6, S Cook 6, Kelly 6, Rico 6; STANISLAS 8 (Brooks 69, 7), Gosling 6 (L Cook 69, 6), Lerma 4, Billing 5 (Surridge 90), King 7 (H Wilson 77); Solanke 6 (C Wilson 69, 6).
Subs: Boruc, Serman, Groeneveld, Simpson.
REFEREE: Lee Mason 7.
Charlton ahead after 58 minutes with his 10th goal of the season.
But Jutkiewicz scrambled home a last-gasp leveller to earn a share of the spoils.
Blues had 24 shots and interim head coach Steve Spooner said: “I could not praise the players enough for the way they took on information.
“That was a really good performance.
“We had a chat and went back to basics and that’s what we did.”
■
EDDIE HOWE was devastated at leaving the Etihad with nothing.
The Bournemouth boss said: “It’s not about performance at this stage of the season, because we want results.
“We were excellent. We dug in really well, we were in it right to the end.
“I’m just absolutely devastated to come away with nothing after putting so much into the game. But it bodes well for the last two games. Hopefully we should get some more points and we have to look for two wins.”
Pep Guardiola admitted he expected a tough night due to the desperate plight the visitors are in.
The City boss said: “Bournemouth played well and we struggled. Their needs are so high, to stay in the league, so it is normal in these situations.”