Huddersfield 1-2 Bournemouth: Play-off chasing Cherries secure fifth successive league win
- Published
Dominic Solanke put Bournemouth 2-0 up with his 14th of the season
Bournemouth boosted their Championship play-off bid with victory at struggling Huddersfield Town.
Former Terriers midfielder Philip Billing headed the visitors into the lead after home goalkeeper Ryan Schofield had saved Arnaut Danjuma's initial effort.
Dominic Solanke punished Town for giving the ball away cheaply with a fine finish for his 14th of the season as the Cherries took total control before the break.
Lewis O'Brien hit the post for the hosts after the interval before Jonathan Hogg's glancing header got them back in it, but Bournemouth held on for their fifth successive league win.
Jonathan Woodgate's men are now up to fifth in the table and five points clear of seventh-placed Reading, with five games left to play.
Billing, who joined the Cherries for £15m from Town in July 2019, scored for the fourth time in his past five league appearances either side of Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic making decent saves to deny Aaron Rowe efforts.
The home side, who have now won just one of their previous 10 games, fell further behind just before half-time when Rarmani Edmonds-Green gave the ball away and Ben Pearson played in Solanke, who finished expertly from 20 yards.
Carlos Corberan's men improved after the break and gave themselves the chance of an unlikely point when Hogg scored his first goal since August 2016 from Duane Holmes' corner.
Centre-half Naby Sarr had a chance to level but fired over when another corner fell to him in the box and Huddersfield remain in 19th place.
They travel to improving Nottingham Forest on Saturday, while Bournemouth visit Premier League-bound Norwich.
Huddersfield boss Carlos Corberan:
"In that first half we conceded the two goals which really could have been avoided I thought, and that's a little disappointing.
"We know Bournemouth are a very good team of course, but we were trying to control the game in the first half, but these things happen.
"We conceded the second goal at a really bad time, then in the second half, though we played positively and worked hard, we couldn't create enough chances.
"The reaction of the whole team was good in the second half, though."
Bournemouth boss Jonathan Woodgate:
"It was pretty comfortable until they scored with 15 to go. The Championship is a tough league of course, and you can't afford to let opposition teams off the hook.
"We deserved to win today, no question. We need to be more clinical in putting games to bed, though.
"We were well on top at half-time, but games like this can come back to bite you if you're not careful. We're back in a good position now."