Bournemouth 2-1 Stoke City: Dominic Solanke and Jamal Lowe cap late fightback for Cherries
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Bournemouth looked like they would slip out of the top two before their late comeback
Late goals from Dominic Solanke and Jamal Lowe helped promotion-chasing Bournemouth fight back to beat 10-man Stoke at Vitality Stadium.
Tommy Smith powered a fine finish in off the post to put Stoke ahead, but they were reduced to 10 men after 32 minutes when left-back Morgan Fox was shown a straight red card for catching Philip Billing with a high challenge.
And the Cherries finally broke through following a string of second-half chances when Solanke headed in after Lloyd Kelly sent Todd Cantwell's free-kick back across the box.
Lowe then turned in from six yards with two minutes left to cap the late turnaround.
After their previous two matches were called off because of Storm Eunice, Bournemouth were looking to restore daylight between themselves and their automatic promotion rivals in their first match for a fortnight.
But it was Stoke who started brighter, and after Smith's fine opener Cherries goalkeeper Mark Travers was forced into a fingertip save to keep out Brown's goalbound effort.
Yet the tide turned after Fox's dismissal, as Lewis Cook had an equaliser ruled out for a Solanke handball before Billing dragged a shot wide after Cook played him into space on the edge of the box.
Stoke keeper Jack Bonham did superbly to tip Cantwell's header around the post, before Billing headed the former Norwich man's cross against the bar as the hosts made a brisk start to the second half.
The Cherries looked set for frustration as their momentum stalled until Solanke levelled with his 21st goal of the season, and five minutes later Lowe turned in Jordan Zemura's low cross.
A fourth consecutive league win restored second-placed Bournemouth's two-point cushion over the chasing pack, with games in hand on their rivals, while a run of one win in eight leaves Stoke 15th.
Bournemouth boss Scott Parker told BBC Radio Solent:
"From the minute the whistle goes until it ends we're always in games no matter what, and that's the most powerful thing about today.
"I thought the crowd were a bit edgy in the first half and that translated on to the pitch. That's not a criticism of the fans or the stadium because I understand that's where we are, and I understand the desperation for us to win games and do well.
"We tried to address that at half-time and explain to our players that we stick to our way, we go about what we do and keep consistent to that because that's the way we're going to win games - and I thought second half we did that very well."
Stoke City manager Michael O'Neill told BBC Radio Stoke:
"We deserved to take something from the game. We were the better side up to the red card, deserved to go one ahead and could possibly have been more than one ahead, but the red card changes everything.
"What we gave with 10 men, given it's our third game in a week against a team that hasn't played for two weeks, I thought the effort of the team was fantastic and ultimately we just couldn't hang on against a very good team.
"Zemura's challenge on Jacob Brown was no different to Morgan's challenge [on Philip Billing]. Neither are red cards, but to give a red card and to give the other one as a thrown-in to the opposition is staggering."