Ake earns Bournemouth first away win of the season
Eddie Howe admitted he had to remind his players “not to get ahead of themselves” amid talk of qualifying for Europe after defeats against Middlesbrough and Sunderland before the international break undermined the progress Bournemouth had made in a four-match unbeaten run.
Clearly, the message hit home. This was an outstanding effort against a Stoke side who had not lost in six games. Bournemouth were unstinting in their efforts to defend Nathan Ake’s first-half goal and ensure they recorded a first away win of the campaign.
“There is a fine balance between having confidence and overstepping that and getting ahead of yourselves,” Howe said. “It is very important that we realise that our attitude and work ethic needs to be the same that brought us the success we have had and we can’t ever lose that.”
Stoke will feel they should have stretched their run to seven without defeat, having won a penalty early in the second half that Bojan Krkic struck against the bar. But they were lucky not to have conceded a penalty only 12 minutes into the first half when Callum Wilson, released by a Jack Wilshere pass, was brought down inside the box by Ryan Shawcross, whose sliding challenge got little or nothing on the ball.
Centre-back Ake’s first goal for Howe’s team came in his first start of the season just a day after the Bournemouth manager had denied a report that Chelsea wanted to recall him from a season-long loan in January because of lack of playing time. The 21-year-old, who came in as part of a defensive reshuffle forced by Adam Smith’s ban, was outstanding at both ends of the pitch, defending superbly as Stoke mounted sustained late pressure. The goal came after he was left unmarked to nod home from a Junior Stanislas free-kick after 26 minutes following a foul by Eric Pieters on Simon Francis towards the right-hand corner flag.
“We’ve gone from man-for-man to zonal marking for corners after what happened with referees at the start of the season and I think because it was a free-kick we were a bit caught in two minds,” Stoke manager Mark Hughes said.