A 19th placed Preston beat Bournemouth in their first away win of the season, breaking the Cherries 15 game unbeaten streak.
A team who’ve been scoring for fun in recent weeks had a frustrating and disappointing game at the Vitality last night. Bournemouth's 15 game unbeaten streak has been ended by a defensive Preston in a 2-1 defeat.
The Cherries (who still top the table) performed as expected in the opening minutes. However, a calm and collected approach slowly grew to a frustrated one for the home side as a stalwart Preston side dropped every time the ball was lost, leading Scott Parker to refer to them as a "stubborn back 5."
A few well-placed through balls from Jefferson Lerma couldn’t find their target, while Philip Billing’s composure wasn’t enough to award the Cherries with a chance. Preston seemed to be able to sustain the pressure from the home side with relative ease.
Chances were few and far for both teams, with neither able to achieve a shot on target in the first 45, making the first half rather unremarkable.
Bournemouth came out the gates fast in the second half. A beautiful lobbed through ball from Ryan Christie to Dominic Solanke applied pressure from the off; the Cherries could not find the back of the net.
A goal from Ben Whiteman in the 52nd minute put the Cherries’ unbeaten run into jeopardy, following a cross from Prestons Tom Barkhauzen.
A team that hasn’t gone a goal behind since October 2nd seemed to have a hectic response.
Evident frustration came in the form of a Jefferson Lerma foul on Alistair McCann, which sent him crashing into the sideboard. It was clear to see the rest of the team felt similar though, with loose balls and rash challenges summarising the next few minutes.
Bournemouth’s apparent saviour came in the form of Philip Billing, who’s deflected shot in the box finally found a way to break Preston’s persistent wall to make it 1-1, leading to a flood of relief at the Vitality.
Preston began to come out of their defensive shell following the equaliser from Bournemouth’s number 29. They started throwing more men forward and bombarding the Bournemouth box with long balls.
Bournemouth seemed to seize control of the game at this point, playing with more confidence and desire. Preston once again retreated to their defensive set, attempting to play the counter attacking style that awarded them their first goal.
This seemed to pay off when a quick Preston attack went completely against the flow of the game, awarding McCaan his first Preston goal. It was swept past Travers into the bottom corner making it 2-1 in the away teams favour.
Hope was not all lost though, as Travers was called upon to stop Emil Riis from another fast Preston counterattack, which led to a 1 on 1 and an impressive save.
While Bournemouth struggled to score in the second half, they were certainly not looking for the illusive shot on target they couldn’t find in the first.
The stadium fell silent as a deflected save from Preston’s Daniel Iversen dropped to the feet of Jamaal Lowe in the 6-yard box, yet Iversen’s quick recovery stopped the Bournemouth celebrations once more.
Constant attack from the Cherries spelled the last 10 minutes of the game, while a sense of uncertainty and disbelief seemed to grasp the spectators. Despite this, the Cherries seemed to be "missing a creative spark" in the words of Scott Parker. This may have been the result of Jordan Zemura's absence, who according to Parker will be seeing a specialist next week to assess his ankle injury.
Anywhere but the box was Preston’s game plan in the final minutes, who survived the onslaught of the Cherries, who sent all 11 men up in their final two corners.
Definitely not the dominant display the fans are accustomed to, and a disappointing end to the Cherry’s record breaking 15 game unbeaten run.