Bournemouth vs Newcastle United match report: Heroic Rob Elliot keeps Cherries at bay to secure narrow win

Bournemouth 0 Newcastle United 1

(Getty Images)

Recent matches on the South Coast have usually been disastrous for Newcastle United, with two 4-0 thrashings at Southampton and successive FA Cup exits at Brighton in their rear-view mirror. And this could have easily have been another débâcle for the Magpies to equal either of those defeats at St Mary’s but for the superb performance of their third-choice goalkeeper, Rob Elliot.

Injuries to Tim Krul and Karl Darlow gave Elliot his chance, and he had to overcome a thigh injury of his own before taking the field to defy the Cherries with five outstanding saves. He also made a series of second-half punches as the crosses rained in from the home team under the leaden skies.

“He got us three points without a shadow of a doubt,” Newcastle’s manager, Steve McClaren, said. “I thought he was excellent.”

Chieck Tiote challenges Andrew Surman for the ball (Getty Images)

The result of his heroics was Newcastle’s first away win in the Premier League since January, a run of 12 games without victory, secured thanks to Ayoze Perez, who poked his shot under the left hand of Adam Federici, the Bournemouth goalkeeper, after Aleksandar Mitrovic’s backheel.

Federici looked at fault, certainly by comparison with the unbeatable Elliot, who saved three times from Josh King and once each from Dan Gosling and Matt Ritchie.

“We didn’t play well but we managed to hold on,” Elliot said. “The team spirit we’ve been building is good. The number of blocks and defending headers was fantastic.”

Bournemouth’s superiority was demonstrated by the fact that they had 20 efforts on goal to Newcastle’s two, but perhaps that also shows that their finishing does not match their high-tempo approach play in the absence of the injured Callum Wilson. His unavailability made it all the more surprising that Glenn Murray, signed from Crystal Palace for £4 million, was not even in the squad, although uninjured.

Bournemouth's Matt Ritchie attempted to bring his side back into the game (Getty Images)

“It’s a tough result to take,” said Eddie Howe, the Bournemouth manager. “I was very pleased with the performance. The challenge for us is to come out of this spell, and we will be stronger for it.”

Newcastle, though, left the South Coast happy for once, and out of the bottom three.

“That and sending the fans home with a smile, is the most pleasing thing,” McClaren said. “Where we’ve lost other games that we should have won, we’ll take the three points today.

“It’s about time we got that rub of the green, to be perfectly honest.”