Eddie Howe knows Bournemouth cannot afford to gift goals as late strike denies win

Eunan O'Kane dawdled in possession in the 86th minute and gifted the ball to Jamie Vardy

BOURNEMOUTH are learning lessons about the Premier League every week.

 

At Liverpool they learned teams can be denied deserved draws or even victories by the blunders of officials. At West Ham last weekend they found not all their Premier League opponents have formidable, almost watertight defences. And on Saturday they found the slightest error can be punished at this level.

The unlucky player was Eunan O'Kane, the 25-year-old Irish midfielder who has passed well, run hard, and might have been in the running for the man-of-the-match vote until he dawdled fatefully in possession in the 86th minute.

Jamie Vardy was on him in a flash, nicking the ball, charging past Tommy Elphick into the penalty area and then being brought down by Steve Cook. Vardy hit the penalty so hard that even though Artur Boruc got both hands to the ball, it was going only one place and that was the back of the net.

"That's the game of football and that's the league he's in," said Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe. "He's an outstanding player. I've always believed in him. The demands are now you're going to have less time on the ball and every mistake is going to be a potentially higher risk of being punished. The aim there is always to improve."

 

Until then, Bournemouth had looked likely to hang on to the lead given them by Callum Wilson after 24 minutes, a spectacular overhead volley that the scorer described as his favourite of the four goals he has scored so far.

They were not helped by injuries sustained by left-backs Charlie Daniels and Tyrone Mings, whose Premier League debut lasted only 11 minutes of the second half, and left-sided attacking midfielder Max Gradel. All three will have scans and could force Howe unexpectedly into the transfer market.

The disruption to Howe's team allowed a slow-starting Leicester to get into the match, with Vardy finally getting service from the midfield. Foxes boss Claudio Ranieri praised his striker - "I love him, he is dead but he wants to fight" - but says it will take time to get his ideas over to the team.

"Sometimes we play very well with my ideas, sometimes they forget. It's normal at the beginning. It's like repetition and now it's my job to make repetition, repetition, repetition so they can play like Bournemouth, because Bournemouth are very well-organised."

 

Bournemouth (4-4-1-1): Boruc 7; Francis 6, Elphick 6, Cook 6, Daniels 6 (Mings 46; Smith 56, 5); Ritchie 5, O'Kane 5, Surman 7, Gradel 6 (Pugh 67); Tomlin 5; Wilson 7. Booked: Gradel, O'Kane. Goal: Wilson 24.

NEXT UP: Norwich (a) Sept 12, PL.

Leicester (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel 6; de Laet 5 (Benaloune 90), Huth 6, Morgan 6, Schlupp 7; Drinkwater 7, King 6; Mahrez 5 (Okazaki 46, 6), Kante 6, Albrighton 5 (Doodoo 72); Vardy 8. Booked: De Laet, King, Huth. Goal: Vardy 86 pen.

NEXT UP: Aston Villa (h) Sept 13, PL.

REFEREE: N Swarbrick (Lancashire).