Saints 2 Bournemouth 0

The Saints striker struck once in each half from the penalty spot as Nigel Adkins’ men defeated the high flying Cherries at St Mary’s.

SAINTS GALLERY

The victory was well deserved in what proved to be a one sided encounter with the late sending off of Adam Smith making no difference to the result.

There was an electric atmosphere for the first league meeting between the sides in half a century and the players instantly responded.

Bournemouth got off to a flying start and came so close to taking the lead with less than a minute played.

A high diagonal ball was won in the box by Michael Symes whose header picked out Liam Feeney on the edge of the area.

He controlled on his chest and drilled in a low volley that beat Kelvin Davis but struck the post and came back out.

After Saints had only blocked a follow-up effort Symes had a go himself and put it just wide.

Just three minutes later it was Saints who were agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock.

Adam Lallana’s mazy run was ended with a pass into Lee Barnard.

He held off two challenges to get through one-on-one with Shawn Jalal who saved with one hand.

Rickie Lambert picked up the ball and with Jalal beaten fired goalwards only for Adam Smith to clear off the line.

From the corner Dean Hammond powered in a free header but it was straight at Jalal.

Lallana tried an acrobatic overhead kick from Barnard’s cross on seven minutes but it went wide.

Lambert was the next to go close, his header from a corner glanced across goal but off target before the striker laid the ball into Jason Puncheon who fired over.

Saints were given a massive boost when they were awarded a penalty on 18 minutes.

Lambert collected the ball with his back to goal right on the edge of the box and was needlessly clattered into from behind by Rhoys Wiggins.

The referee initially saw nothing wrong with it but the lineman signalled it was not only a foul but just inside the area and the penalty was given.

Lambert stepped up and blasted the spot kick high, hard and straight down the middle for 1-0.

Saints would have been pleased with how the half was progressing.

After taking the lead they had drawn the sting out of the game, were bossing possession and looking by far the more likely to get the next goal.

Saints were fuming when the referee awarded them a free kick for a foul and booked Jason Pearce when he should have played advantage with Puncheon through on goal.

It had been a thoroughly impressive first half display from Saints who taken total control after overcoming a couple of early scares.

When the half time whistle blew it was a very satisfied Saints team that left the field with a well deserved lead.

Cherries made a change at the break to try and turn things their way with Shaun Cooper replacing Feeney which saw a bit of a reshuffle in formation as well.

However, it didn’t pay instant dividends as the second half picked up where the first left off.

Saints may not have been carving Bournemouth open but they had nearly all of the ball and were continually probing and squeezing the pressure on.

That in turn made it hard for Bournemouth to get their passing game going.

There was absolute chaos in the Cherries area on ten minutes after the restart and it led to another penalty.

Jalal was twice quickly out to Saints feet to block shots when it looked like they might score.

But with the ball still not cleared and the Cherries backline in disarray Wiggins jumped in again and this time brought down Morgan Schneiderlin and the result was inevitably another penalty.

Lambert was again the taker and side footed his shot low and just to the left of centre.

Jalal dived the wrong way and much to the delight of the Saints faithful their team led 2-0.

Saints looked rampant and moments later Barnard headed wide as they looked for another.

Cherries responded with another change on 61 minutes as Danny Hollands replaced Marvin Bartley.

Bournemouth quickly threatened for the first time in a long time when Cooper had a shot that went just over.

Danny Butterfield was the next to try his luck but a side footed shot from 25 yards was straight at Jalal.

Adam Smith went into the book for a foul on Dan Harding before Cherries made their final switch on 68 minutes with Steve Fletcher replacing Symes.

Saints responded two minutes later with Alex Chamberlain coming on for Lallana.

Lambert had a chance for another attempt at goal when Pearce fouled Barnard 20 yards out to the right of centre. He lifted it over the wall but Jalal dived to his left to push it wide.

Marc Pugh had an effort for Cherries as they pushed to try and find a way back into the game but it was deflected wide before they reacted furiously after a penalty shout of their own was turned down.

Richard Chaplow made his second Saints debut as he came on for Barnard with ten minutes remaining.

Guly do Prado was on four minutes for Lambert.

Cherries’ day was just about made complete on 86 minutes when Smith tripped Puncheon as he charged down the left and was shown a second yellow card followed by a red.

Guly tried to go it alone when he had other options deep into stoppage time but lashed his shot wide.

When the final whistle went a few of the Cherries players and coaches angrily confronted the referee to remonstrate about a series of decisions they had disagreed with.

But though two penalties had settled the game Saints were the better team and had deserved their win and a much needed three points as they look to get their promotion bid back on track under Adkins.

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