King misses late penalty as Bournemouth and Wolves share spoils

Posted Sunday, February 24, 2019 by PA

Joshua King missed an 85th-minute penalty as Bournemouth were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with in-form Wolves in a contentious game containing three spot-kicks.

King struck his late effort against the right post having earlier given the Cherries a first-half lead from 12 yards.

Raul Jimenez earned the visitors a share of the points by calmly converting the second penalty of the afternoon with seven minutes remaining.

Both of Bournemouth’s penalties appeared to be fortuitous, with the first awarded after King went down under minimal contact from Joao Moutinho, while Ryan Fraser appeared to be outside the box when he was fouled by Ivan Cavaleiro.

There was a farcical end to an action-packed contest at the Vitality Stadium as the sprinklers came on with the game in stoppage time.

The result lifts the Cherries above Everton into 10th place, while Wolves remain eighth after extending their unbeaten league run to five matches.

Bournemouth were back on home soil for the first time since thrashing Chelsea 4-0 on January 30.

Injuries once again hampered Eddie Howe’s preparations, with the continued absences of top scorer Callum Wilson and wingers David Brooks and Junior Stanislas significantly reducing their goal threat. Meanwhile, £12million defender Chris Mepham was handed a first top-flight start as Steve Cook missed his first league game of the season due to a groin problem.

Wolves dominated the opening of the game, albeit without creating a clear chance, before falling behind in controversial circumstances.

After making the most of Moutinho’s dangled leg, King picked himself up to coolly slot his ninth goal of the campaign into the bottom right corner from the spot.

The visitors’ sense of injustice increased six minutes later when they denied a penalty of their own.

In an attempt to clear the ball, Wales international Mepham inadvertently headed the ball on to his right arm, with referee Roger East opting to award a corner and then book Diogo Jota for protesting.

The opening goal was the game’s only effort on target in a tetchy first period.

Leander Dendoncker registered Wolves’ first goal-bound effort early in the second half when his header from Moutinho’s corner was pushed over by Artur Boruc, with Willy Boly looping another header on to the roof of the net from the resultant set-piece.

Recalled Cherries striker Dominic Solanke should have doubled the hosts’ lead soon after but he fired straight at Rui Patricio having been played in by Dan Gosling following poor distribution from the Wolves goalkeeper.

Match official East again prompted additional anger from the travelling fans when Jefferson Lerma escaped with only a yellow card – his 10th of the season – after appearing to catch Moutinho with an elbow.

For all of their possession, the away side were creating little of note and almost fell further behind 18 minutes from time.

Jordon Ibe cut inside Conor Coady on the right before his thunderous drive cannoned back off the crossbar.

That narrow miss proved significant with seven minutes to go when Matt Doherty was wiped out in the area by Adam Smith after scuffing a shot wide, allowing Jimenez to confidently beat Boruc from the spot.

Bournemouth had the chance to go back ahead just two minutes later when Fraser was felled by substitute Cavaleiro but this time King stuck his penalty against the woodwork.