Bournemouth vs Wycombe Wanderers. Sky Bet Championship.
Vitality StadiumAttendance2,000.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Bournemouth and Wycombe at the Vitality Stadium as a Junior Stanislas goal earns the Cherries a narrow victory over the 10-man Chairboys.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 23:44, UK
Junior Stanislas scored his sixth goal in as many games to lift Bournemouth to the top of the Championship with a 1-0 victory over 10-man Wycombe.
Bournemouth had reinforced their promotion credentials with an emphatic 5-0 win at the weekend against Huddersfield, their first match back in front of 1,200 fans.
There were 2,000 supporters present at the Vitality Stadium for the visit of struggling Wycombe, who had not won in their previous eight games but proved difficult opposition.
It has been an excellent start to the season for the Cherries, who are scoring freely and barely conceding as they seek an instant return to the Premier League.
Bournemouth went close to taking the lead after four minutes as Stanislas' free-kick was headed at the near post by top-scorer Dominic Solanke but Ryan Allsop was equal to it with a fine save.
The next chance fell the way of Colombian Jefferson Lerma but the recovering Jason McCarthy did well to divert his powerful close-range shot over the bar.
Wycombe have found life difficult since their promotion to the second tier but they were dogged and resilient in the first half and restricted the Dorset club to just those two opportunities.
They showed more purpose at the start of the second half, with Adebayo Akinfenwa winning plenty of the ball in attack.
Nick Freeman had the visitors' first shot on target, with his driven effort forcing Asmir Begovic to turn the ball round the post.
Bournemouth were struggling to get going but Stanislas did go close with a 25-yard free-kick which dipped narrowly over.
Wycombe then went within a whisker of scoring as Garath McCleary bent a shot towards the far post which Begovic saved with his fingertips.
Just as Wanderers were gaining a presence in the game, they were reduced to 10 men when Alex Pattison was rightly sent off for a late, high lunge on Lewis Cook.
As Gareth Ainsworth looked on with concern, he soon saw his side fall behind as David Brooks, newly crowned as Championship Player of the Month, raced to byline and pulled the ball across for Stanislas to stab it home.
Wanderers did not fold and Begovic was again called upon to prevent Akinfenwa scoring after he rose to head McCleary's cross at goal.
Bournemouth went in search of more and Allsop was forced to scramble away Cook's swerving strike but one goal proved enough.
Bournemouth's Jason Tindall: "Again we knew if we won tonight that was a reward for us. It was important we backed up a really good performance against Huddersfield with another three points. Other than scoring more goals I'm really pleased.
"It's another clean sheet, that's four on the spin now, which is really pleasing for us and we've ended up winning the game 1-0."
Wycombe's Gareth Ainsworth: "I can't be prouder of the boys. You sit in the dressing room after that game and you feel so hard done by. I think the Bournemouth keeper made bigger saves than the Wycombe keeper tonight.
"He kept them in the game, 10 men changes it and with that amount of money on the pitch and talent against you, you need 11. It's hard to look at because it's a young kid, Alex Pattison, who's not got a nasty bone in his body."
