Written by kirsikka
After the insipid draw earlier in the week, the Cherries again faced a team in the bottom half of the table at Dean Court. The unfortunate injury to Stanislas from that match meant Tindall rung the changes, with Carter-Vickers in to make his first league start, Smith moving to left wing-back to accommodate the returning Stacey and King replacing Junior.
It looked as if it would be the same formation but JT sprung a surprise, pushing King into a central role to support Solanke and with Brooks allowed the freedom to roam behind them, not a bad decision given his propensity to wander. It was kind of a 3-4-1-2 that demanded a lot from the two wing-backs and needed the respective centre back to also get forward and support out wide.
The Cherries started well with some good possession as Luton again played the role we’ve seen so often this season of sitting in and asking us to break them down, hoping to hit us on the break. Given it’s worked enough times you can understand why.
Luton nearly gifted Bournemouth an early goal when a header back to the keeper was way too soft and looked like it would land for King, only for his outstretched boot to not quite get the contact he hoped for and ending in a tame shot.
On both flanks, the wing backs were prominent in getting forward with Rico acting as a good foil for Smith on the left, helping him to create triangles that worked the Luton defence. Stacey didn’t have an equivalent forward playing centre back on his side but proved adept at making an impact solo with his pace or with whoever happened to be nearby.
At the other end, Harry Cornick was chasing everything for Luton, desperate for a hit against his former club. Carter-Vickers showed a good reading of the game and skill to clear up and prevent chances from developing for him.
With 25 minutes gone and the game meandering along, the Cherries looked superior without creating too much of note whilst Luton were hanging in there when the game was changed by an officious interjection from referee Webb.
A Begovic clearance to near the halfway line had Lerma leaping into the air to challenge only to be nudged in flight by a Luton player. Knocked out of his trajectory he made the purely natural movement of swinging his arm around to try and regain his equilibrium and prevent himself from landing awkwardly. As part of this, the tips of his fingers scraped across the face of Luton player, Lockyer, standing nearby. Lockyer collapsed with some blood leaking out from the wound created by the trailing hand.
Rather than take a moment to review the whole incident in his mind and realise it came about from the other Luton players’ nudge, the ref combined the sight of blood with Lerma’s pending charges and, at best guess, phrenology to decide it must have been a flailing elbow and whipped out his red card.
It was exactly the kind of incident that three years ago would lead to demands from some for VAR as the ref had dropped an absolute clanger. However, given its current implementation, VAR would probably have taken seven minutes to keep the red decision as is and added on a penalty for Luton.
In response to going down to ten men, Tindall kept the same personnel on the pitch but had Brooks drop further back into midfield with King and Solanke alternating leading the line or playing in behind the other.
The sending off left Luton looked confused and a tactical mess since they didn’t know what to do with their game plan now they were expected to try and attack. They still didn’t manage that but contrived to look shakier at the back with the ten men playing their way around them only to see multiple almost chances never quite developing into the real thing.
The King and Solanke partnership was a thing of pleasure as they dragged players around and tried to create space for each other. Having earlier this season looked like a player unaware he had teammates, King was playing with an unselfish streak I can’t recall seeing for a long time. He even dummied one ball to allow it to run to a non-existent Cherry when the situation demanded he shows some greed and has a crack.
The half time whistle blew and referee Webb was given a non-stop chuntering escort from the pitch all the way down the tunnel from Tindall. The ref’s face didn’t even acknowledge him as his expression looked like he’d mainlined a wholesale delivery of Botox. I assume he’d been made aware over his headset that he’d got it badly wrong and so wanted to get away from the scene of the crime.
The Cherries top brass made it known to media immediately that the red card will be appealed and, undoubtedly, rescinded but that didn’t help matters for the coming 45 minutes.
Immediately from the kick-off, Luton showed a bit more ambition. A free-kick was sent into the back post where an attacker was stood all along after King and another defender had let themselves get dragged into the centre. The Luton player blasted a shot which Begovic somehow deflected only to see it hit Solanke and then trickle past the post. That’s the second time this week we’ve been completely undone by the absolute basics on a meat and drink free-kick so that needs to be worked on.
From the corner, the ball reached a Luton player in the six-yard box and he leathered it at goal only to see Begovic react like a Mantis Shrimp, kicking out a leg to save it with his foot. The ball broke loose and moments later another shot was fired in from further out but heading like an Exocet for the corner only to see the Bosnian once again produce an excellent save to keep it out.
Three times in two minutes he kept out chances that would have beaten most keepers. It was like watching Gandalf face down a Balrog; the ball shall not pass.
After that flurry failed to produce a goal Luton disappeared from the attacking half again as the Cherries belied their smaller numbers to put the visitors under sustained pressure. One King run was like something from his AFCB greatest moments showreel as he ran with pace, power and skill only to slip it through to Solanke at the perfect moment. Dom flicked it past the keeper but didn’t see the covering defender who cleared it before it could roll into the net.
In amongst all the good work from the Cherries, there was one black mark. The earlier season set-piece foibles had reappeared with corner after free-kick after corner being floated in with plenty of air meaning the lamppost Luton had in central defence could clear it easily every time. It was crying out for someone to tell Rico to fire it in with pace but the shout never came.
Finally, on 66 minutes Luton dared venture forth into the Bournemouth half again as an attack down the right opened up some space near the box as the player cut inside. He passed it further in to Dewsbury-Hall who had S Cook standing off him allowing him space to take a shot which flew into the net giving Begovic no chance.
Tindall rang the changes, trying to bring on fresh legs to make a difference. With Rico off, we did finally see some different set-piece deliveries and wonder of wonders one of them almost worked as Steve Cook nodded it back across goal only for it to not land kindly for the Cherries. The key here is though the style of the ball in meant it created a problem for Luton.
Once again a series of almost moments characterised the Bournemouth attacks. It felt like it would never drop until finally on 85 minutes Kelly speared in a cross which was met on the volley first time by Riquelme only to see the Luton keeper save it.
That was it. A game we dominated with ten men but lost to a team that only went into our half when they were chased out of theirs. 36% possession when you’ve got a man advantage for over an hour might possibly be a record.
The man on the pitch that made the real difference to the match today though was, unfortunately, the one person you don’t want to be the centre of attention. A ref should never guess what’s happened for such a crucial decision.
Man of the match against Luton
Carter-Vickers
King
Begovic
S Cook
Your say…
Topfarrier wrote…
Great report ……Mantis Shrimp fantastic!
Another poor result from a system that rarely produces anything else….although we looked ok with it until the sending off……agree about the effort and spirit of the players….really can’t fault them…I thought Stacey was going to throw up at one stage….he looked absolutely shattered….can’t ask for more than that in the circumstances. – Join the conversation, click here.
