AFC Bournemouth
Scott Parker has revealed that Dominic Solanke’s last-minute penalty was a result of hard work on the training ground from the striker.
With the weight of Vitality Stadium on the frontman’s shoulders in the 1-1 draw with Fulham, Dom stepped up to a 98th-minute spot kick.
Sending Marek Rodak the wrong way, Solanke buried the penalty and levelled up the scores with just seconds remaining.
Speaking to the press following the game, Parker stated: “If there was any a man in the stadium regarding our side of it, there wasn’t a cooler man in the stadium in terms of Dominic Solanke and full credit to him.
“He missed a penalty at Blackpool away, that was his last penalty, then he came in the next day and wanted to work out a process.
“He wanted to work out a technique in penalties, mixing up things and from that day to this point, he’s practised, practised, practised.
“He’s got himself in a position that when he’s in the height of it where there isn’t a bigger penalty - that wasn’t a 12-minute penalty at 1-0 down to equalise or 24 minutes to go 2-0 up - you couldn’t have cranked the pressure on anymore.
“To be fair, the work he’s done put him in the best position to be able to execute it and full credit to him.”
Solanke’s penalty makes the former Liverpool man the highest-scoring Cherries player over a season since Ted MacDougall during the 1971-72 campaign.
The goal also places the frontman in joint-20th place in the list of Bournemouth league goalscorers alongside Marc Pugh on 45, leading Parker to heap further praise on him.
“I’ve not got enough words or compliments for Dominic Solanke,” he said. “Every week the boy is the most focussed, most committed and most relentless.
“With that attitude and that desire, he’s got values, there’s something about the boy that I can relate to massively, along with others.
“Full credit to him, he deserves every bit of it, he deserves putting that goal away for the work he’s done and the humility of wanting to get better and wanting to improve.
“You don’t see that, you just see him on the occasion today in the 98th minute to put the ball in the net and just see it as a normal penalty.
“I see the graft, I see the hurt when he’s missed, I see the stresses and then I see the ultimate commitment to be able to do that.
“Them moments only happen through work and graft and a mentality, full credit to him.”
The goal at Vitality Stadium sealed a home point against the already-promoted Fulham, which the Cherries manager felt was a deserved one for his side.
He explained: “It was a well-deserved point, for sure. The start of the game, overall, was two very good sides.
“They asserted a little bit but I thought our press was brilliant in that sense and the longer the half went on, I felt we were growing into the game.
“In the second half, I felt we took them to certain depths in terms of really nullifying their opportunities.
“They score a goal which looks a little bit dubious in whether it’s crossed the line but that’s neither here nor there.
“From that moment, I just see a team in us that had a foot to the floor and tried to put them under as much pressure as we could.
“In the end, I thought our physical prowess and our endeavour got us the penalty and Dominic Solanke put it in.”
