Stoke City vs Bournemouth. Sky Bet Championship.
Bet365 Stadium.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Stoke City and Bournemouth at the bet365 Stadium as Junior Stanislas' seventh goal of the season moved Jason Tindall's Cherries up to third in the table
Sunday 3 January 2021 00:18, UK
Bournemouth climbed to third in the Sky Bet Championship table after a gritty 1-0 win over Stoke at the bet365 Stadium.
Chances were few and far between in a closely-fought first half, although Sam Surridge and Dominic Solanke came closest to breaking the deadlock for the visitors, with the latter lifting a shot onto the crossbar.
But Bournemouth finally edged ahead when Junior Stanislas latched onto Lewis Cook's searching ball forward and fired a low shot beyond Stoke goalkeeper Joe Bursik for his seventh goal of the season (79).
With Brentford not in action this weekend, after their game against Bristol City was postponed, the Cherries move above them into third, two points behind second-placed Swansea. Stoke stay eighth, two points outside the top six.
Bournemouth started like a house on fire in the defeat to Brentford on Wednesday but Stoke proved a different prospect altogether and they found it difficult to break them down throughout the first half.
While Stoke boss Michael O'Neill would no doubt have been the happier manager at the break, it was, ironically, the Cherries who had gone closest to breaking the deadlock first when Surridge tucked a Diego Rico cross wide of the left-hand post.
Around 20 minutes in, Jordan Thompson rippled the side-netting of former Potters goalkeeper Asmir Begovic's net with a wicked curling free-kick, moments before Solanke drew Bursik off his line and sent a hopeful shot bouncing off the top of the crossbar.
Bournemouth started the second half with intent, but, as the snow that had coated the surrounding area overnight started to fall once more, the chances almost dried up altogether.
That was until the 79th minute, when the visitors scored what proved to be the winner and it was route-one football at its finest. Cook floated the ball into Stanislas' path and he judged the bounce perfectly before firing in to get the Cherries back to winning ways, with a fifth clean sheet in six games to boot.
It was a game of few chances, but one that was settled by an impressively-taken goal by Stanislas. He has managed to stay free from injury so far this term and Bournemouth are reaping the rewards.
Stoke's Michael O'Neill: "I thought the result was harsh on us, to be honest. We had opportunities in the first half and played a good team but I thought we were more than a match for them and one moment turns the game.
"It tells us we are going in the right direction. You look at our team tonight and we've young players in the team, some of whom are in their first season in the Championship, so there's a lot of positives. We've played every team in the league now and have not been outplayed in any of the games. It gives us belief for the second half of the season."
Bournemouth's Jason Tindall: "I spoke beforehand about the fact that every time we've had a setback, we've bounced back in the right way and won our next game and against a really tough Stoke side we've managed to do that again tonight with a really good team performance.
"They are a physical side who go from back to front quite quickly and you have to do the ugly side of the game, so to speak, and defend your own box well. I felt we were excellent at that tonight."
Both clubs will participate in the FA Cup third round at 3pm on Saturday, January 9. Stoke host Leicester at the bet365 Stadium, while Bournemouth travel to Boundary Park to face League Two side Oldham.
