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Bournemouth stage comeback with two late goals to beat Ipswich

hockey08 December 2024 17:00| © Reuters
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Goals from substitutes Enes Unal and Dango Ouattara powered Bournemouth to a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory at Ipswich Town on Sunday, breaking the hearts of home fans hoping to witness their first Premier League win of the season at Portman Road.

Bournemouth move up to eighth in the standings on 24 points, while relegation-threatened Ipswich have nine points from 15 games and sit in 18th place, four points adrift of the safety zone.

The result extended Ipswich's run of defeats in the league to three matches, while further stoking the momentum that Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth have built up after impressive league wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

"We definitely didn't deserve to lose, we had great chances but just failed to take them, especially in the first half," Bournemouth coach Iraola, whose substitutions turned the tide of the match, told the BBC.

"The subs gave us the end product that we were missing. We were arriving in the right places but just not finishing. They finished well, we were almost in desperation mode at that point."

In a testy and physical opening spell, Ipswich captain Sam Morsy and Bournemouth left back Milos Kerkez took blows to the face, while Sammie Szmodics made a crunching tackle on Adam Smith.

Ipswich had the better chances early on and took the lead in the 21st minute when Cameron Burgess set up Conor Chaplin, who sidefooted home the ball from the edge of the area.

Bournemouth improved as the first half wore on and had opportunities to score but Marcus Tavernier rattled the post with a low shot, while in-form Justin Kluivert was denied by a last-ditch tackle from Burgess.

Ipswich were allowed little time on the ball after the break as the visitors emerged with renewed vigour and pressed furiously in search of an equaliser.

Despite fashioning a number of half-chances, Bournemouth were often frustrated by a combination of gutsy defending and a final ball that was lacking at crucial moments, with keeper Arijanet Muric making smart saves to deny Antoine Semenyo and Ryan Christie.

Just as it looked that Ipswich had done enough, Bournemouth's pressure finally told as Unal headed the ball off Burgess and over the goal-line to level in the 87th minute.

Smelling blood, Bournemouth flooded forward in their hunt for a winner and overwhelmed a weary Ipswich defence, with Ouattara smashing a rebound into the roof of the net in the fifth minute of stoppage time to score the winner.

The win was Bournemouth's first over Ipswich since 1990 and moved them within three points of fourth-placed Manchester City.

Asked if Bournemouth could now dream of a top-four finish, Iraola said: "I don't think we have to look at the standings, it's too early.

"The most important thing is trying to win and then we see how many points we can get by the midway point."

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