Bournemouth 3-2 Blackburn Rovers: Cherries win on Championship return
- Published
Jefferson Lerma put Bournemouth 2-1 ahead early in the second half
Arnaut Danjuma's brilliant late goal earned Jason Tindall victory over Blackburn Rovers in his first game in charge of Bournemouth.
Jack Stacey put the hosts ahead with a fine strike from distance, before Bradley Johnson levelled when his shot from even further out slipped through the dive of Cherries keeper Mark Travers.
Jefferson Lerma's neat finish restored Bournemouth's lead, but Blackburn deservedly hit back through Adam Armstrong.
However, Danjuma's curling effort into the far corner clinched victory to give Bournemouth a boost after a difficult summer.
Since dropping out of the Premier League, Bournemouth saw long-serving boss Eddie Howe depart, and sold goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, centre-back Nathan Ake and striker Callum Wilson in deals worth a total of almost £80m.
They have not yet moved to replace those key players, so will be pleased to respond after relegation with an opening-day victory, especially after being given an examination by Rovers.
Tony Mowbray's team will be frustrated to leave the south coast without reward. They carried a threat throughout but were perhaps undone by the Cherries' greater quality in front of goal.
Blackburn have still not won an opening day match since beating Everton in 2010, while for Tindall it is his first victory as a manager since leading Weymouth to a 1-0 win at Oxford in the National League back in January 2008.
Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall told BBC Radio Solent:
"You always want to get off to a winning start and ultimately as a manager, football is about winning games, so I'm delighted we were able to do that.
"There's no easy games at any level and certainly in the Championship as we know from our last time in this division. But the positive thing is we've scored three goals.
"It's disappointing to concede the goals we did, but there were spells in the game where you saw the work from the training ground come out.
"We've certainly got some work to do and physically we looked a bit tired, But I'm sure with a few more games under our belt, we will get stronger and fitter."
Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray:
"I genuinely felt there was only one winner once we got back to 2-2 and that was us.
"It was an intense football match and Bournemouth know they were in a tough game.
"We should be proud of the way we played, the chances we created and the threat we carried against a team who have Premier League quality as illustrated by their winning goal."