Bournemouth scored their first goal and earned their first point at home in the Barclays Premier League– but they will feel they could have done better, even if circumstances conspired against them.
Callum Wilson put them ahead in the first half with his fourth goal in two matches, but they suffered three destabilising injuries at the beginning of the second half. Charlie Daniels, the left back, had to be replaced at the interval by Tyrone Mings, a record £8 million summer signing from Ipswich Town, but Mings himself was carried off on a stretcher only 11 minutes into his Premier League debut, and their attack was weakened when Max Gradel limped off ten minutes after that.
Leicester City arrived in Dorset unbeaten and second in the table but showed little until the injuries had weakened the home side. Yet when that opportunity arose, they exposed the lack of experience in Bournemouth’s defence and Jamie Vardy kept their undefeated record intact, striking the equaliser from the penalty spot four minutes from time after he had been brought down by Steve Cook.
Each team had made one change to last weekend’s line-up. Leicester replaced Shinji Okazaki with N’Golo Kanté and Lee Tomlin made his first league start for Bournemouth team after his £3.5 million move from Middlesbrough instead of Josh King, who was rested as a precaution after tweaking a hamstring.
Bournemouth’s pitch, relaid in summer in order to accommodate the undersoil heating required by the Premier League, was made slick by drizzle – a prerequisite of any Bank Holiday weekend on the south coast – and a good first touch was required as the ball zipped off the surface.
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With players concentrating on controlling the ball, 17 minutes passed before the first noteworthy effort on goal, Vardy of Leicester fading a curling left-foot effort just over Artur Boruc’s crossbar. The home side’s reply was less considered, an over-hit cross by Daniels forcing Kasper Schmeichel to scramble along his goalline just to make sure it was going beyond his left-hand post and not just inside.
But after 24 minutes, Bournemouth were ahead, scoring their first-ever top flight goal at home, and it was a well-taken one. Daniels exchanged passes with Tomlin, and although Robert Huth got in the way of Gradel’s header from Daniels’ deflected cross, Wilson took off to hook the dropping ball past Schmeichel with a spectacular overhead kick. .
It took a nervy-looking punch from Schmeichel to deny Bournemouth a second as Gradel flighted in a free kick. Then Andrew Surman tried to set up a shot for Tomlin only for the forward’s touch to desert him.
Both sides made changes at half-time. Leicester took off Riyad Mahrez, the Premier League top scorer at kick-off, and sent on Okazaki, while Mings replaced the injured Daniels.
Mings was involved immediately, confronting Huth after the Leicester defender kicked the ball against the prone Wilson after a challenge. As Mings rushed into remonstrate, Huth’s hand made contact with his face, and if Neil Swarbrick, the referee, had believed it was intentional rather than Mings running into Huth as he stretched out his arms in an appeal for mercy from the official, the card he was shown might have been red rather than yellow.
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But while Huth stayed on, Mings was soon leaving the field, stretchered off after Danny Drinkwater’s attempted challenge for the ball had made contact with Mings’ planted left leg instead. Gradel left shortly after following an innocuous-looking tackle by Ritchie De Laet.
Leicester came into the game, and Boruc had to beat away an angled volley from Jeff Schlupp and then paw aside a cunningly-flighted free kick from Drinkwater. Joe Dodoo miskicked when well-placed and Schlupp tried his luck again, the ball whistling just wide.
A goal for Leicester was surely coming, but when it did arrive, it looked highly avoidable from Bournemouth’s point of view. Vardy ran at Tommy Elphick and got past him on the left of the penalty area. But he was well wide of goal when Cook, attempting to cover his partner in central defence, slid in late to challenge, and was the only person in the round to show any surprise when Swarbrick pointed to the spot. Vardy converted the kick with a fierce shot into the top corner.
That was in the 86th minute and even with eight further minutes a draw seemed the only possible outcome, although Bournemouth had loud appeals for a penalty turned down in the dying seconds when Yohan Benalouane appeared to bring down Wilson.