AFC Bournemouth 1-0 Wycombe Wanderers: Junior Stanislas goal puts Cherries top
- Published
Junior Stanislas opened the scoring for Bournemouth four minutes after Wycombe went down to 10 men
Junior Stanislas scored his sixth goal in six Championship games as Bournemouth edged past 10-man Wycombe to move top of the table on goal difference.
The Cherries forward tapped in a low David Brooks cross four minutes after Alex Pattison was given a straight red card for the visitors for a lunging challenge on Lewis Cook.
Until then Wycombe had frustrated their hosts, restricting them to half-chances and starting the second half brightly in front of 2,000 fans at Vitality Stadium.
Adebayo Akinfenwa's header forced Asmir Begovic into a save as Gareth Ainsworth's side never gave up but they are now without a win in nine league games.
Bournemouth move above Norwich, who will regain top spot if they avoid defeat at Reading on Wednesday, while second-bottom Wycombe are five points from safety after Nottingham Forest beat Sheffield Wednesday.
In stoppage time matchwinner Stanislas was involved in a shoving match with team-mate Sam Surridge, who shot wide rather than taking the ball to the corner, with the pair having to be separated.
Ryan Allsop saved brilliantly from Dominic Solanke's header and Stanislas saw an effort cleared off the line as Jason Tindall's Cherries pressed for a first-half goal, but until Pattison's red card Wycombe were proving a tough nut to crack.
The Chairboys had enjoyed their best spell until the sending off - Nick Freeman testing Begovic from the edge of the box before the Bosnia keeper pulled off a great save to deny Garath McCleary's turn and shot.
But Stanislas and Wales winger Brooks had the quality to capitalise on their man advantage and Bournemouth took the points despite not reaching the highs of Saturday's 5-0 thrashing of Huddersfield.
Bournemouth boss Jason Tindall told BBC Radio Solent:
"We got the goal with one of the only bits of quality I felt we showed around the box in terms of our decision making.
"I felt we were the only team that were going to score if I'm totally honest, 11 against 11.
"The red card - it makes it difficult for any team when they're down to 10 men and maybe it did give us a lift. We got the goal I felt we deserved but we're just disappointed we only won by one tonight."
Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"They needed a sending off that was never a sending off - it's his [Alex Pattison's] first tackle of the game, it's not reckless.
"I thought the referee didn't react at all until everybody ran and charged towards Alex Pattison and I just think that inflamed the situation.
"I'm absolutely so proud of those players tonight - I thought they took top of the league all the way and if we keep playing like that we'll be more than fine."