Scott Parker unhappy with referee decisions as Bournemouth beaten by Blackburn

Posted Sunday, December 12, 2021 by PA

Scott Parker was left fuming at the match officials as Bournemouth suffered a 2-0 Championship defeat at home to promotion rivals Blackburn to extend their winless run to five matches.

Ben Pearson’s unlucky first-half own goal and Dutch defender Jan Paul Van Hecke’s first in Blackburn colours made it four wins on the spin for Tony Mowbray’s side.

But Bournemouth boss Parker was adamant the visitors’ opener should not have been allowed to stand by referee Simon Hooper and his assistants.

Parker said: “We are in a difficult situation at the moment. We are in the eye of a storm with injuries and decisions.

“For the first goal, there were two players who were blatantly offside.

“I spoke to the official at half-time and he said that if he made a mistake, he was sorry. I could sense in his body language he was not sure.

“It was not even tight. You need to do your job at that moment.”

Second-placed Bournemouth have now won only one of their last seven games after starting the season with a 15-match unbeaten league run.

Parker said: “I sensed an anxiousness in the stadium as the game wore on and that made it very difficult for us.

“We will stick to our principals and stick to what I stand for.

“It is easy to play when you are unbeaten in 15 and everything is going well – the real test is now.”

Blackburn’s first goal came in the 21st minute and summed up Bournemouth’s run of recent misfortune.

Captain Darragh Lenihan’s initial header was clawed away by Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers but Ben Brereton Diaz reacted quickly to latch onto the rebound.

Brereton Diaz’s shot from a tight angle slammed against the underside of the crossbar before hitting the unlucky Ben Pearson in the face on its way into the net.

Bournemouth should have been level in first-half stoppage-time when Ryan Christie’s clever through-ball sent Dominic Solanke one-on-one with Aynsley Pears.

Solanke passed up the chance to score his 18th goal of the season by shooting straight at the grateful goalkeeper.

Brereton Diaz should have been celebrating his 18th league goal of the campaign after being sent clean through by John Buckley only to see his shot turned behind by Travers’ outstretched left leg.

Bournemouth’s reprieve did not last long as – from the resulting corner – Joe Rothwell picked out Van Hecke and the towering Dutchman planted a bullet header into the top-left corner.

Blackburn manager Mowbray said: “I think this is a really difficult place to come and the stats show that.

“Scott’s a top manager, top bloke and they’ve got some really good players in their team.

“We generally play on the transition rather than trying to dominate the ball these days and it was a really hard-fought victory.

“I really think that they can give anybody a game. We are capable.

“The team have clicked into place despite the injuries we’ve got at the moment. We made life difficult for them and our threat on the transition was there for all to see.”