Sunderland vs Bournemouth match report: Patrick van Aanholt cancels out Benik Afobe's opener

Sunderland 1 Bournemouth 1

Sunderland defender Patrick van Aanholt celebrates after eqaulising against Bournemouth (Getty Images)

There were seven minutes remaining when the chance came for Lewis Grabban to perhaps put one of Bournemouth’s feet in next year’s Premier League.

It was a fine opportunity, created when Junior Stanislas slipped the substitute through. With one touch he controlled the ball, with a second he stabbed a shot, with just Vito Mannone to beat, wide from eight yards.

The Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe, stood in his technical area, put his head in his hands. Grabban was doing the same. The scores were tied at that point.

Benik Afobe heads in the opening goal against Sunderland (Getty Images)

Sam Allardyce unashamedly said afterwards that it was a game he could not conceive losing. The gap between the two sides, after Grabban’s miss, stayed at six points. It could have been bigger and it should have been bigger.

Certainly the gap between the sides yesterday was reflected most acutely in the jeers that greeted the final whistle. The city of Sunderland did not reflect Allardyce’s limited ambition.

They have seen their team slide for season after season, but the manner in which Bournemouth outplayed them was a new one. When the visitors took their lead in the 13th minute, it was completely deserved, Benik Afobe’s header too much for Mannone.

Bournemouth striker Benik Afobe celebrates scoring against Sunderland (Getty Images)

Sunderland scored their equaliser in first-half injury time, when Patrick van Aanholt struck a low, angled shot past Artur Boruc. Boruc would do well to deny Billy Jones, but the game should still have been won, and the gap between an immediate return to the Championship should have been wider, when Grabban had his chance.

“We had the best chances and Lewis’s one is the one we kick ourselves with,” said Howe. “He did everything right, just the finish really. You take a point but we should have got three.”