Bournemouth 0-2 Stoke City: Will Forrester and Tommy Smith sink play-off bound Cherries
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Goalscoring debutant Will Forrester (centre) has been with the Potters since the age of six
Play-off bound Bournemouth fell to their third straight defeat as Stoke ended a six-match winless run at the Vitality Stadium.
Will Forrester marked his senior debut by hooking a finish into the net after Jefferson Lerma missed with a wild swing attempting to clear a corner.
The Potters doubled their lead after the break when Sam Clucas' neat through ball sent Tommy Smith clear to drill a precise low finish into the far corner.
The defeat, combined with Barnsley's draw with Norwich, dropped Bournemouth to sixth and set up a play-off semi-final with Brentford.
Stoke's sixth away win of the season left them 14th, their best finish since relegation from the Premier Division in 2017-18.
Having lost back-to-back matches without scoring, Jonathan Woodgate recalled top scorers Dominic Solanke and Arnaut Danjuma in seven changes from the side beaten by strugglers Wycombe.
Against a Stoke side with just one win in their previous 14 away trips, the Cherries began on top, with Philip Billing's goalbound strike deflected wide and Lerma heading David Brooks' corner past the post.
Yet the hosts failed to build on their good start and did not force a save before the break, while home keeper Asmir Begovic had to keep out a Rabbi Matondo effort after 19-year-old academy graduate Forrester had produced his dream moment.
Woodgate would have hoped for a reaction after the interval, but a lacklustre start to the second half was further punished by Smith's clinical finish.
Solanke's close-range strike forced City goalkeeper Adam Davies into a good save, but that proved to be Bournemouth's only attempt on target and they will go into their play-off clash against the free-scoring Bees without a goal in three games.
Bournemouth manager Jonathan Woodgate:
"We'll be the underdogs, it's all on them (Brentford) as the favourites, but we'll give it our best shot.
"It's massive for the football club. It's massive for the players. It's massive for myself.
"When I came in the objective was to finish in the play-offs and we've done that by seven points. If you're winning seven games out of 10 then you are doing OK.
"We don't want to lose any game that we play, but that will have nothing to do with the play-offs."
Stoke boss Michael O'Neill:
"The frustration is that's promotion form really, but in the other 25 games we've conceded too many obviously.
"We lost some momentum in January and February so we have to learn from that.
"All round it was a very good afternoon for us. It was a great performance and a great result against a good side with a huge prize to play for.
"We sat three points off the play-offs after 23 games, but we finish on a positive. We've got to keep looking for that bit of quality and keep adding to our squad hopefully."