Cherries hold on for win at Oakwell

Commentary By @afcbournemouth

We get the win!

It was a hard-fought second half as the Cherries went down to ten-men but Scott Parker's side see it out and grab an important win.

90'+1'

Jordan Zemura receives a yellow for a late challenge on the left touchline.

Fortunately, Barnsley play on and are promptly flagged for offside so the Cherries can waste a moment or two.

90'

A big game for the debutant as he comes on to help see out the remaining minutes.

There is three minutes added on.

86'

Gary Cahill receives a red card here.

A pass is underhit to him and he goes clattering into Cole, picking up a second yellow card.

We'll see a debut for James Hill, I think.

83'

Scott Parker makes his first substitution as Jamal Lowe comes on for Jaidon Anthony for the remainder of the game.

80'

76'

There's really not a lot to write home about at the moment.

Cahill is finding joy at set pieces but is winning the headers at the edge of the box, which is minimising the venom.

Aiden Marsh comes on for his league debut for Barnsley, replacing Matty Wolfe. His first touch is a drive from distance at goal but Travers holds comfortably.

70'

The forward attempts to beat a Barnsley defender to a loose ball but crashes into the side of him, picking up a yellow card.

67'

Josh Benson comes on for Romal Palmer in the first substitution of the afternoon.

64'

No arguments about this one.

The experienced defender miscontrols the ball and Barnsley look to have a counter attack, with a two-on-one advantage.

Cahill takes one for the team by tugging the Barnsley man to the floor and ending the counter attack there.

The subsequent free-kick misses everyone in the box and floats harmlessly behind for a goal-kick.

59'

The Cherries counter attack through Solanke, who has just changed into a new pair of boots, and he tries to pick out Christie in the middle, who was unmarked.

Unfortunately a defender gets in the way and the Cherries have a corner instead.

We work it short, finding Pearson at the edge of the box, and his cross looks to pick out Lerma at the back stick.

He wasn't able to get a firm connection on it however and it bounces wide.

57'

55'

We're being a little bit wasteful in-front of goal here!

The Cherries win the ball in midfield and counter attack quickly through Zemura.

He drives through the middle and finds himself in a three-on-one situation, opting to find Christie on his right.

The ball is slightly under-hit and the defender gets his foot to it.

Moments later, Christie's cross is headed out to Anthony, who tries a volley at goal but it bends just wide.

53'

Almost the second for the Cherries!

A free-kick is aimed towards the back post where Lerma has risen highest.

He's a fair way out from goal so tries to guide it into the far corner, sending Collins scrambling.

The Barnsley shot-stopper does well to reach it and pull it away from goal, but also slam it against Solanke who was primed for the rebound and send it away for a goal-kick.

50'

The second half suddenly sparks into life as Travers is forced into a good save.

Much like the first, the Cherries have controlled possession but haven't looked particularly dangerous with it and there wasn't a lot to write home about.

Until a free-kick is won on the right flank. The low cross isn't dealt with by Zemura in the first line of defence and it bounces through to Cole, who tries to guide it on.

He gets it on target but Travers is alert and pushes it away.

46'

The Cherries get this second half started.

Let's win this!

The positives for the Cherries are that they're ahead and deserve to be. The running of Solanke is excellent, as usual, and he's creating spaces for the likes of Anthony and Billing to attack.

We've controlled the ball and looked comfortable in possession, and have had a number of chances, including from set-pieces.

Whether it is the wind or the pitch, which looks fairly heavy, but the tempo has been fairly laboured at times and Parker will want the Cherries to switch play and create intricate interplays at a quicker pace in this second half, which isn't far away.

Nonetheless, plenty of positive aspects for the Cherries to take into the next 45 minutes.

And that's that for the first half, the referee adding no stoppage time.

The Cherries deserve their lead, which came through Phil Billing after 12 minutes, but Parker will be frustrated by a lack of fluency through that first period.

Barnsley's only real chance came late in the half so the Cherries will be pleased with how they've managed their threat so far.

44'

There's not a lot to report at the minute, the Cherries are working very diligently to move the ball and create chances but there's not a lot of threat in the last few minutes.

The home side create a big opportunity as Travers' pass to Zemura is intercepted.

Palmer is able to send in a low cross from the right towards Styles in the middle, but the Barnsley midfielder misses his kick and Travers makes the block with his legs.

38'

Jaidon Anthony sends in a corner from the left and picks out Gary Cahill at the edge of the box.

The defender had slowly backed away to create space and is able to meet the delivery with a first time volley, however he slices it wide.

35'

The Danish midfielder almost has his second!

Stacey does well on the right but his looping cross is caught by the wind and flies out of the box at the far side, via a touch from Anthony.

Christie clips it back into the box, Solanke glances on and it lands at Billing in space.

It perhaps requires a stretch from Billing as he can't get on top of his effort and it flies high and wide. But a good opportunity.

32'

The game has become fairly scrappy in the last ten minutes and it would be wrong to say this has been a fluent Bournemouth display, despite comfortably being the better team.

Anthony is finding lots of space on the left flank though, playing on the shoulder of right-back Williams.

He receives a nice pass from Pearson and looks to create a shooting chance, dragging his effort across goal. A defender has to clear behind.

27'

The Cherries go close as Ryan Christie takes aim from distance. It should be a straight forward save from Collins but he spills it, although he does recover before it crosses the line.

The goalkeeper starts a counter attack however and Leya Iseka finds space on the left side of the box, driving an effort at goal and Travers has to make a decent stop.

24'

The forward is causing havoc with his direct running, his physicality and his ability on the ball.

He receives a throw from Zemura and tries to turn into the box, Billing picking up the loose ball and driving to the touchline.

He cuts it back to Solanke and the shooting opportunity opens up briefly, but a Barnsley defender does recover to make the block.

21'

We've noticed that when the Cherries have the ball on the right, Zemura is tucking in into a more central positions.

Presumably Scott Parker has identified the threat of Barnsley on the counter attack and wants to limit the space available to attack in that situation.

Barnsley do post their first real threat on the counter attack but Zemura wins the header at the back post.

19'

The Cherries are getting most of their joy in wide areas, building through the middle of the park and then finding one of the wing backs in space on either side.

This time Stacey sends in a dangerous cross, aiming for Solanke in the middle, but a Barnsley defender gets to the ball.

However, it falls kindly to Lerma, who has to take a touch to bring it under control before firing at goal.

He strikes it nicely but can't direct it and it flies over the bar.

17'

11'

Philip Billing finds the opening goal!

Superb work by Solanke as he races onto Stacey's arched ball forward.

He beats Brad Collins to it, who'd raced out of his goal to try and intercept it.

Solanke was pushed right down the right flank and does well to send in a looping cross into the middle.

Billing is in the middle and wins a booming header to put it past Collins, who'd raced back to his goal, to open the scoring!

That should be 1-0 to the Cherries!

It's been a fairly comfortable start, Scott Parker's side have dominated the ball and made some in-roads in the wide areas, albeit without any glaring opportunities.

That was until Jack Stacey went on a roving run on the right flank, weaving between a number of defenders and racing into the box.

He picks out Solanke with a low cross and the forward tries to direct it at goal but puts it wide at the near post.

The best opening so far!

It's been a bright start from the Cherries!

The runs into the channel from Solanke and Anthony has caused some early problems, the latter winning the first corner of the game on the left.

The ball is worked short before Pearson sends the cross in from the edge of the box.

Collins comes for the ball but doesn't claim it and it lands kindly for Billing, his looping header lands on the roof of the net though.

Barnsley get this game underway, the Cherries electing to shoot towards the away fans in this first half.

Let's go, lads!

14:57

Lloyd Kelly leads out the Cherries here at Oakwell.

The fans behind the goal are in good voice as they chant the name of Scott Parker!

We're only a couple of minutes from kick-off in a huge Championship game for the Cherries.

14:45

Our supporters are located behind the goal to the left of the dugouts and are already in fine voice, partly because they've managed to find a big bit of sun!

A young Cherries fan named Alfie is given the opportunity to read out our line-up over the PA system, each player getting a warm cheer from the travelling faithful.

Then the players gather just in-front of the supporters to do their final part of the warm-ups, heading back into the dressing room, and getting an ovation as they do so.

We're very grateful for the support - we're expecting nearly 1,000 to be in attendance today!

14:40

It's been a whirlwind season for Jordan Zemura, who has established himself in the first team and represented Zimbabwe at the Africa Cup of Nations.

It was almost unfathomable as he started the game against West Brom on the opening day that he'd be so important to Scott Parker's team but his relationship with Anthony on the left has become integral and Zemura continues to impress.

His first two goals for the club came against Barnsley at Vitality Stadium and he'll be hoping for another big impact this afternoon.

14:34

We spoke to Doug O’Kane, from the Barnsley Chronicle, to discuss how Barnsley are playing at the moment and how Poya Asbaghi's first couple of months in charge.

He said the following:

He tried at first to shore them up and went very defensive. It worked to an extent. They were a lot better defensively but weren’t really attacking at all.

He’s tried to get that balance in recent weeks but, every time they go more attacking, they seem to leave themselves very open at the back.

It’s been difficult because they had four games called off due to Covid, initially opposition cases but now their own.

Asbaghi is missing the game today through illness so it will be interesting to see how his side respond against the Cherries.