Nottingham Forest 2-3 Bournemouth: Billing, Solanke and Anthony secure their return

Bournemouth bounced back brilliantly from a 2-0 half-time deficit to earn a stunning Premier League win over Nottingham Forest.

After leaving the game at the break, the managerless Cherries, led by goalkeeper Gary O’Neil, have now secured a draw and a win since Liverpool’s 9-0 thrashing and subsequent dismissal of Scott Parker.

Their afternoon didn’t start well when the home side took the lead through Cheikhou Kouyate, who got the better of a Morgan Gibbs-White cross.

Brennan Johnson doubled the lead on the stroke of half from the penalty spot after a lengthy VAR check, with Lloyd Kelly penalized for the handball.

But Bournemouth showed their powers of recovery in the second half through Philip Billing’s hard-hitting long-range strike and Solanke’s acrobatic effort, before Anthony sealed the win late.

O’Neil gives a good audition

This encounter between two of last season’s promoted sides was slow for half an hour but turned into a memorable contest, especially for Bournemouth’s traveling players and supporters.

The South Coast team may have already been written off by some, and they looked set to be heading for their fifth straight league game without a win.

But they changed the afternoon in dramatic fashion to partially erase some painful memories of last weekend’s humiliation at Anfield as they secured their second victory of the campaign.

Parker was fired after taking aim at the owners for not backing him in the transfer window, but those comments may seem misguided as the same generation of players is now performing under O’Neil.

The former Portsmouth midfielder has overseen a turnaround in form and could consider the full-time job after backing the midweek goalless draw against Wolves with this comeback.

But O’Neil doesn’t know if those results now change the recruiting process.

“It’s still ‘until further notice,'” he said. “I haven’t spoken to anyone about it, I was told to take the squad today and until further notice. As far as I know, that’s still the situation.

“I honestly haven’t considered whether I want it permanently. I feel like my job at the minute is to get as many points as possible at Bournemouth during this time I’m here. I’m fully focused on that.

“As soon as we came off the pitch, I just thought we needed to get ready for Brighton. Whether it’s me or someone else, we just need to rest and go again.”

A tactical change at the break against Forest, from a 4-2-3-1 formation to 5-2-3, did the trick for Bournemouth as Billing’s thunderous 30-yard effort put them on the line. recovery, and Solanke’s overhead kick was his 50th goal for the club in all competitions.

The former Liverpool man also played a huge role in the winner, taking the ball away from McKenna before feeding Anthony into a cold conversion.

Forest, meanwhile, suffered back-to-back defeats under Steve Cooper for the first time, having been beaten 6-0 by champions Manchester City on Wednesday.

Kouyate’s first goal for the club and Johnson’s penalty – given after a five-minute check by VAR and referee Michael Oliver on the pitchside monitor – gave them the perfect platform, but they fell subsequently collapsed.

Club-record signing Taiwo Awoniyi, one of 21 players signed by Forest in the summer transfer window, could have saved a point in injury time but missed from eight yards out.

Cooper said: “I didn’t see the second half coming. I thought we were very good in the first half and good for the two-goal lead.

“The first goal, we didn’t defend well enough before the ball went into the net. That then set the tone for the second half, and we didn’t deal with that very well.

“The second goal was from a set piece. We should do better. Then there was a mistake by Scott [McKenna] for the third goal. It’s the first time he’s taken the wrong foot since I’ve been here.

“But let’s not hide the fact that we wasted a win. We didn’t do it in a very good way. We conceded three goals at home, and there’s nothing good about that.”

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