AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth maintained their unbeaten start to the new Championship season after sharing the spoils from a 0-0 draw with QPR at Vitality Stadium today.
Jason Tindall’s team made it 11 points from their first five games and were forced to work hard against industrious opponents from west London.
Chances were at a premium during a cagey opening period with Cherries goalkeeper Asmir Begovic making a couple of important saves to deny Bright Osayi-Samuel and Macauley Bonne.
The hosts’ best opportunity of the first 45 minutes fell to Dominic Solanke whose right-foot shot flashed past the upright in the 34th minute.
Although the Cherries enjoyed the better of the second half, the visitors defended well and protected goalkeeper Seny Dieng who was rarely troubled.
Boss Tindall named an unchanged starting line-up following the Cherries’ impressive 3-1 win against Coventry.
New loan signing Rodrigo Riquelme was named among the Cherries substitutes along with fit-again pair Arnaut Danjuma and Junior Stanislas.
Fellow new recruit Cameron Carter-Vickers, who joined on loan from Spurs, was ineligible having been signed after yesterday’s noon registration deadline.
The visitors fashioned the first shooting chance when Bright Osayi-Samuel turned inside and let fly, Asmir Begovic diving to his left to push his low drive past the post after four minutes.
A deep cross from Ilias Chair was just too high for Macauley Bonne before another centre from the Moroccan player was cut out by Steve Cook.
Cherries captain Cook leapt high to head away Chair’s free-kick and Begovic raced off his line to smother at the feet of Bonne after the striker had looked to profit on a ricochet.
Begovic again came to the Cherries’ rescue when he stuck out his right boot to divert Bonne’s effort around the post after Luke Amos had put his team-mate in the clear midway through the first half.
Bonne looked to get on the end of Lee Wallace’s driven centre, only to fail to make good contact at the near post before Chair’s shot was charged down by Jefferson Lerma.
The Cherries’ first real sight of goal came in the 34th minute when Dominic Solanke was picked out by Chris Mepham’s raking pass, the striker firing narrowly wide with an angled drive.
Osman Kakay received the first booking of the contest for a heavy challenge on Adam Smith before Osayi-Samuel followed suit on the stroke of half-time.
Diego Rico followed the QPR pair into referee John Brooks’s notebook for a foul on Osayi-Samuel at the start of the second half.
Osayi-Samuel worked an opening eight minutes after the break but fired into the side netting having latched on to Kakay’s cross.
As the flurry of bookings continued, Chair received a yellow card for hauling back Solanke, the free-kick – taken by Rico – eventually cleared by the visitors.
Danjuma replaced Surridge after 60 minutes, the Netherlands international quickly seeing his rasping effort charged down by a defender.
As the Cherries began to assert, Dan Gosling’s goalbound strike from a Smith cutback was blocked by Kakay before Rico applied a crucial touch to a dangerous cross from Chair.
Solanke’s header from a Stacey cross dropped the wrong side of the post before Lerma made way for Stanislas for the remaining 14 minutes.
Lewis Cook’s excellent pass found Solanke but the striker could only find the side netting before Bonne fired high over the crossbar following a promising move.
