Bristol City 0-2 Bournemouth: Cherries return to top of the Championship with stylish win at Ashton Gate
- Published
- comments
The Bournemouth players celebrated their opening goal against Bristol City with team-mate David Brooks' shirt following his cancer diagnosis in the build up to the game
Bournemouth restored their three-point lead at the top of the Championship with a comfortable win at Bristol City.
Jamal Lowe celebrated his first league start by steering Jack Stacey's wicked cross in from close range to put the Cherries in front.
Jordan Zemura's stunning finish doubled the lead on half-time as the visitors took firm control.
City, without a home win since January, struggled to create throughout and were fortunate not to lose more heavily as Dominic Solanke and substitute Jefferson Lerma had late goal-bound efforts blocked.
The Cherries' triumph maintained their impressive unbeaten start to the season - with five clean sheets in a row on the road in the league - while City's winless run at home now stretches to 16 matches.
Bournemouth's victory came at the end of an emotional week for the club following midfielder David Brooks' cancer diagnosis.
And the Wales international, who announced he is to have treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma, was never far from the visiting players' and fans' minds.
Having warmed up in in black shirts bearing Brooks' name and number 7, the away end erupted in applause in the seventh minute and were soon joined by the rest of Ashton Gate.
Bournemouth's players held up Brooks' shirt as they celebrated Lowe's opener - a tidy jab home from six yards from Stacey's brilliant centre that evaded City goalkeeper Daniel Bentley and centre-back Nathan Baker on 21 minutes.
City boss Nigel Pearson, who was back in the dugout after missing two matches due to contracting Covid-19 for a second time, was hoping his side would build on their 3-2 win over Peterborough in their last game before the international break despite their poor form at home.
But a Nahki Wells volley over the bar from Callum O'Dowda's cut-back was the best they could carve out in the first half.
Instead it was Scott Parker's Cherries that were the more energised throughout, and Zemura's strike epitomised their confidence.
The left-back was picked out by a delightful cross-field pass from Ryan Christie before his quick feet bamboozled defender George Tanner, and a fierce flash high into the roof of the net gave Bentley no chance at his near post.
The goalkeeper then had to be agile to keep out efforts from Christie and top scorer Solanke after the break.
Solanke was then denied only a second away goal of the season by a hack off the line from a sprawling Jay Dasilva, having beaten Bentley with shot from 10 yards. Lerma's follow-up was then also deflected away.
City, who had to play the final 20 minutes with 10 men after Andy King was forced off with all three substitutes on the field, did have a chance to pull one back late on but Chris Martin headed straight at Mark Travers after being found by Wells' floated cross.
Bournemouth manager Scott Parker told BBC Radio Solent:
"I thought we were superb today. We controlled the game for large parts and were deadly at times.
"We were a lot better than 2-0 really. We had some massive chances but they came back into it in the second half for a spell, but we weathered that and showed our dominance."
On five consecutive away clean sheets:
"It's massive. The work ethic and defensive structure is the nucleus of our team. As a team, every player understands their out-of-possession roles and they know what to do when we turn defence into attack."
Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson told BBC Radio Bristol:
"Before the game I expected us to cause them more problems, but we made too many unforced errors. They are the best side we've played by a long way so, all in all, I don't really have any complaints.
"We need to find that elusive win. It's difficult to judge our performance because they were so good - it was like playing a Premier League team.
"We need a response now in midweek."