Moore’s the goalden boy as Cherries promoted
KIEFFER Moore came off the bench to score a £120million goal and fire Bournemouth back into the Premier League thanks to a 1-0 Championship victory at home to automatic-promotion rivals Nottingham Forest.
Substitute Moore settled a tension-filled game with a neat finish from a superbly-worked free-kick to seal second place for Scott Parker’s men after two years in the second tier of English football.
Forest, who needed a win to leapfrog the Cherries in the table, will now have to try to end their 23-year top-flight exile via the play-offs.
Bournemouth started the game brightly, Philip Billing forcing a good save from Forest goalkeeper Brice Samba in only the fourth minute.
Billing’s curling effort - after cutting in from the left - looked destined for the far corner before Samba flung himself down to push the ball behind for a corner.
The Cherries received a prematch boost when their Wales midfielder David Brooks announced he was cancer free.
Brooks was given a standing ovation from home fans in the seventh minute - in honour of their number seven, watching from the executive boxes.
Forest should have taken the lead when Djed Spence set Sam Surridge through on goal with a sublime defence-splitting pass.
Surridge let his former side off the hook by hammering his shot against the crossbar with goalkeeper Mark Travers beaten.
Bournemouth had the first meaningful effort of the second half when top scorer Dominic Solanke fired into the side-netting from Ryan Christie’s through-ball.
Billing went close to breaking the deadlock in the 66th minute after outmuscling Ryan Yates on the edge of his own penalty area, but he could only fire against the legs of Samba from a tight angle.
The Cherries were now firmly on top and grabbed the goal their efforts deserved seven minutes from time.
Jordan Zemura’s mazy run drew a foul on the edge of the box and Billing rolled a free-kick cleverly into the path of Moore, who coolly fired the ball into the far corner to initiate scenes of delerum among Bournemouth fans.