HOWE ENJOYS PERFECT 10
Cherries on top to spoil Cardiff’s big day
TEN years ago this weekend, Bournemouth started their season in League Two on minus 17 points after entering administration. A few months later, Eddie Howe arrived.
The rest, as they say, is history. Howe’s side survived the threat of dropping down into non-League and climbed to the Premier League, kicking off their latest campaign with this win over Cardiff.
This should have been a more comfortable afternoon than i t was. Pocket- rocket Ryan Fraser gave Bournemouth a first-half lead but Callum Wilson’s poor penalty made for a tense finish.
Wilson later made amends by scoring in stoppage time, sealing the 2-0 win and sending Neil Warnock’s Cardiff back to Wales with nothing to show for their afternoon’s work.
‘That season [2007-08] is etched in my memory,’ Howe said afterwards. ‘It was incredible what happened. From that moment to this, this club is unrecognisable. So much has happened. If you sat someone down [in 2008] and said, “This will be the next 10 years for this football club”, you’d have carted them off. You’d have said they were mad.
‘It just goes to show what can happen in football and you never know what is around the corner. We have to remain very level headed. We’ve seen it go one way then the other. We need to build the club to make us stronger over a long period of time.’
This was Cardiff’s first taste of the Premier League in four years and they were welcomed back by crunching tackles, prompting several protests from Warnock.
Cardiff did not spend like fellow promoted sides Wolves and Fulham this summer and they know these are games they should be giving themselves a chance in.
‘Disappointing,’ Warnock summarised. ‘It wasn’t to be. We went right to the end. Disappointed one or two things didn’t quite go for us.
‘The penalty was as soft as I’ve ever seen. I thought we did all right. We could have got a result out of the game which is what we’ve got to do away from home.’
This was an ideal way for Bourne- mouth to start the season. In the 23rd minute, Wilson barged his way down the right before cutting the ball back, finding Fraser all on his own from eight yards out. With the goal gaping, the 5ft 4in winger tapped it in for 1-0, while Cardiff’s defenders wondered who should have been marking him.
Fraser was later left unhappy when a missile was thrown from the away end in his direction, an incident noted by the officials.
Ten minutes later, it should have been 2-0. Bournemouth won a penalty when Wilson went to ground after a tangle of legs with Bruno Ecuele Manga. Wilson took it himself but Neil Etheridge, making his Pre- mier League debut, got down low to send it wide of the right post.
With the game approaching the final 25 minutes, Cardiff threw the kitchen sink at Bournemouth but, as the fourth official signalled five minutes of stoppage time, Simon Francis crossed for Wilson, who tucked the ball into the bottom corner.
A perfect start for Bournemouth, and plenty to work on for Cardiff.