AFC Bournemouth travelled to Reading on Saturday night knowing that a win would not only lift them five points clear of second-place Fulham but nine points clear of third-place West Bromwich Albion.
Once again AFC Bournemouth head coach Scott Parker went for an unchanged starting line-up, with Lewis Cook replacing Junior Stanislas on the bench.
The back five of Mark Travers in goal, Jack Stacey, Gary Cahill, Lloyd Kelly and Jordan Zemura successfully extended their run of clean sheets away from home, extending the run to an incredible eleven hours.
In attack and Dominic Solanke continued his fine goal scoring form notching his 12th of the season in all competitions before substitute Jamal Lowe bagged the Cherries second goal to see out the game in comfortable fashion.
A fifth win in a row and now fifteen games unbeaten at the start of the Championship campaign, a record for the Cherries.
After the match, AFC Bournemouth head coach Scott Parker told Sky Sports…
“It was a professional performance, really. We knew the challenge we faced here against a very good side, certainly with the ball. I thought we had to be professional; it wasn’t clean at times, but sometimes you need to go and win games and move on, really.
“I thought we did that, to a man. There were some wounded bodies out there towards the end, but we were clinical in our moments. Overall, I’m pleased with the performance because, like I said, sometimes you need to go and win games – and tonight was a game we needed to get out of here and win. We did that very well.”
Man of the match against Reading
Lowe
Solanke
Kelly
Cahill
You were fantastic all evening ❤️
The final word from the gaffer 👇
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) October 30, 2021
"Long may it continue"
Gary Cahill & Dominic Solanke give their reaction to Bournemouth's 15-game unbeaten streak. pic.twitter.com/87ck0ZjtwJ
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) October 30, 2021
Written by Toronto John
It really is something to behold. That was a very scary October in terms of opponents, and 15 points were secured. How do you stop yourself from looking ahead to what seems like an easier run in November??
Lowe’s goal was sweet, and the set play for Dom’s goal was right out of the book.
Tbf, we have been quite lucky with injuries and Reading had a bunch. But, those are the opportunities we need to take, and we did.
This team is purring.
A few knocks to settle, but it really couldn’t look any better.
https://twitter.com/lloydkelly4/status/1454576564251860992?s=20
https://twitter.com/Jzemura3/status/1454576099451678725?s=20
🍒 🔛🔝 #afcb pic.twitter.com/EzdbiEMHN9
— Tom Crocker (@TomCrockerEcho) October 30, 2021
Your say…
Waz afcb wrote…
A very very professional performance, we didn’t really click tonight but bar one Gary Cahill error we didn’t really look like conceding. It’s worth bearing in mind that Reading had scored in every home game so far this season. Despite not being quite in it we still carved them open a couple of times and were just a final ball away from scoring a very good team goal on a couple of occasions.
Individual players-
-Stacey was absolutely fantastic again. The energy levels he possesses are unbelievable, absolute non-stop. Defensively he kept one of the (allegedly) best wingers in the league very quiet.
-Cahill, despite his error in the first half, is just so calm and composed. Hope and pray the knock that he picked up is just very minor. This guy is just unreal.
-Zemura also seemed to pick up a knock, another blow but I’m less worried about this one. Hopefully, he’s okay, but if not Leif Davis was signed to be the first choice initially anyway so am sure he can come in and perform well. He seems very highly thought of by Leeds fans.
-Lowe simply has to play in one of the wide positions. I’m not sure how we fit him in but we have to. Putting the ball in the back of the net is the hardest skill in the game and having a wide man who can do this will be invaluable. His work rate was incredibly impressive too, seemed to be playing left-back at times! Would be very harsh to drop Anthony who does offer a lot of different skills but in my opinion, Lowe just edges it for me for his obvious goal threat.
-Christie never stopped working again but really not sure if he’s best suited to being out wide, would prefer to see him in a central position where he can drift across the line and create. Despite his very effective performances if we want to see the very best of him then he has to play centrally in my opinion. Also, Celtic fans were right about one thing, his shooting is absolutely atrocious, every time he’s about to pull the trigger I find myself urging him to stop. He keeps trying to bend it into the far corner and hasn’t come close yet.
-Very good work rate from Jeff again, invaluable defensive work. However he doesn’t know what to do in the final third, I feel like if he plays then it should be in a deeper role.
-Billing of this season does an awful lot of unselfish work off of the ball, tireless display again. He can however be frustrating as hell on the ball. – Join the conversation, click here.
