Marco Silva’s arrival at Hull City appears to have come just at the right time. The Portuguese has won two of his three matches since taking over as head coach and this, his first in the Premier League, could be highly significant.
Abel Hernandez scored twice and Tyrone Mings deflected Tom Huddlestone’s shot into his own goal as Silva’s team showed spirit and style to recover after falling behind to Junior Stanislas’s early penalty.
Hull’s next four league fixtures are against Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal but they embark on that daunting sequence with morale lifted and within touching distance of fourth-bottom.
The Tigers’ cause this season has not been helped by a spate of injuries. They have been without a natural right-back all season and Harry Maguire, normally a central defender, was asked to plug the gap on this occasion.
It took Bournemouth three minutes to exploit the weakness. Maguire made a clumsy challenge on Ryan Fraser, resulting in a penalty that Stanislas converted.
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Bournemouth were 6-1 winners when the teams met in October and their supporters could have been forgiven for hoping for another comfortable win as Jack Wilshere helped the visitors dominate for 25 minutes. A second goal did not arrive, though, leaving Eddie Howe to complain that his side failed to “go for the throat” while on top.
Although Hull were beaten 2-0 in the EFL Cup semi-final first leg by Manchester United last week, their performance was admirable and they gradually clawed their way back here. Although goalkeeper Artur Boruc had little to do during the first 30 minutes of his 100th Premier League appearance, he was helpless to prevent Hull’s equaliser, such was the quality of Andy Robertson’s cross that allowed Hernandez to head in from close range.
Robert Snodgrass, the Scotland international, has been Hull’s stand-out player this season and he was at the heart of most of their brightest moments here. The playmaker was recently the subject of a bid from West Ham United and Hull must do their utmost to keep him.
Snodgrass was involved in the creation of Hull’s second goal, feeding Hernandez at the corner of the box, where the Uruguayan dribbled to put Mings off balance before shooting low beyond Boruc in the 50th minute.
Things only got worse for Mings as Hull added a third 12 minutes later. Bournemouth failed to clear from Snodgrass’s free kick and Huddlestone’s drive across goal hit Mings’ upper body, beating Boruc at his near post.
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Bournemouth were sure they should have been awarded a second penalty when Marc Pugh, the substitute, appeared to be tripped by Ryan Mason but referee Martin Atkinson was unmoved.
Evandro and Oumar Niasse joined Hull this week, from Porto and Everton respectively, and Silva felt comfortable enough to give both of them their debut off the bench in the closing stages.
“I believe in our team and our quality,” Silva said. “I’m happy, but we have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks.”
Star man: Abel Hernandez (Hull)