Bournemouth vs West Brom match report: Callum Wilson's fine strike breaks down Baggies

Bournemouth 1 West Bromwich Albion 0: A cheeky flick by the striker helped the Cherries to their first win of the season as Jack Wilshere made his debut for the club

Wilson celebrates his winning strike (Getty)

The surroundings may have been new, but at kick-off, Jack Wilshere found himself in a familiar seated among his side’s substitutes. The midfielder’s impact when he eventually appeared as a 62nd minute substitute, however, offered signs of value his season-long move from Arsenal could have for both Bournemouth and himself.

The matchwinner, though, was Callum Wilson whose clever 80th minute flick secured his side’s first league win of the season and brought the striker his first goal since returning from a serious knee injury last April. Yet while Wilshere may not have had a direct hand in the goal, Eddie Howe, his new manager, clearly felt the player’s presence was significant.

“He gave us a foothold which we had lost and I thought he was terrific,” said Howe. “He showed a touch of quality that we will need. We need to keep him fit and on the pitch and if we do that then we will win a lot of games. We don't know how long it will be we'll take it step by step. At the moment we are delighted by his attitude to training and delighted by how he performed today.”

Pulis, right, openly criticised his club's board on Friday (Getty)

Bigger tests lie ahead with the first target for Wilshere to recovere the levels of fitness that will allow him to make the regular starts Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was unable to offer him. That, though, may take time. “We don’t know how long it will be before he can play 90 minutes,” said Howe. “We felt half an hour was a good call for him today what we don’t want to do is push him to early, the key objective is we want him fit and available all season and if we do that, you could see today what a player we have on our hands.”

Wilshere inevitably drew the focus of attention but there was no disguising this was significant result for Howe and his players, just as it was Tony Pulis, the West Bromwich Albion manager, who was targeted by chants from the visiting supporters that confirmed their unhappiness with the manager’s style of play.

Pulis voiced his frustration at the club’s failure to bring in bigger names during the transfer window although he was able to field Nacer Chadli, West Brom’s £13 million record signing from Tottenham Hotspur. Apart from a positive spell at the start of the second half, however, when Bournemouth keeper Artur Boruc produced fine saves to deny Craig Dawson and Saido Berahino, Pulis’s side were second best.

Wilshere helped his new side to their first win of the season (Getty)

The manager reacted by defending his record at the club. “I've been here 20 months and my remit when I came in, and the chairman wanted to sell the football club, to do that the club has made profits, finished 13th and 14th, and there are clubs underneath us who have not made profits and big clubs who have been relegated with massive debts. That was my remit,” he said. “The club is being taken over and we'll see what they want to do. But the remit was to keep the club in the Premier League and in profit and that's what we've done.”

Howe’s position is much more stable following Wilson’s goal, a close range effort turned in from Adam Smith’s low cross carried with it the sense the season was now up and running. “I'm really delighted and it's a feeling of relief,” said Howe. “I really, we feel we should have had more from the games we have played and to get first win is so important. We knew the importance of this game with Man City next week. It's a massive win.”

Bournemouth (4-2-3-1): Boruc; Smith, Francis, Cook, Daniels; Surman, Arter; Ibe (Wilshere 62), King(Gosling 74), Stanislas (Gradel 74); Wilson.

Subs not used: Federici, Afobe, Smith, Wilson.

West Bromwich Albion (4-1-4-1): Foster; Dawson, McAuley, Evans, Galloway; Yacob (Leko 82); Phillips, Fletcher (Gardner 71), Field, Chadli; Berahino (Rondon 62).

Subs not used: Myhill, Nyom, Olsson, McLean, Leko.

Referee: K Friend

PA