Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Despite scoring three times in the first half, Bournemouth were made to work hard for their 4-2 win over Leicester City at the Vitality Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday.
READ: SA players abroad: Dolly suffers injury woe
Despite an early penalty appeal for the hosts, that was correctly turned down, the early going was all Leicester City.
The Foxes were set up very aggressively and found a lot of space, especially down the right wing.
Jamie Vardy almost scored a spectacular opener just four minutes into the game but blew his volley by the left post before forcing a smart save out of Asmir Begovic three minutes later.
The Cherries had a bigger penalty appeal in the 15th minute that was also turned down, but softer spot kicks have definitely been given before.
If they felt hard done by at this stage, they would soon get their retribution as they exposed the danger of the visitors expansive formation in the 19th minute. Joshua King slid a cute ball through the open defence for Ryan Fraser and the Scotland international curled a beautiful effort into the bottom corner to put Bournemouth 1-0 up.
But for Begovic, Leicester would have drawn level in the 37th minute. The Bosnian first blocked a stinging shot from Vardy before recovering unbelievable quickly to bat away Maddison's rebound effort.
The hosts then instantly launched a counter attack with Callum Wilson surging up the field in possession and laying it off for Fraser to slot home his second of the day.
Three minutes later the Cherries finally got the penalty they were after when Ricardo Pereira was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box. King was the man entrusted with the spot kick and buried it to give the home side a resounding 3-0 lead.
Despite what happened in the first half, Leicester appeared determined not to back down and continued to attack in the second period.
The result was a half of football that can only be described as utter madness. Chances were flying at both ends of the pitch and tempers began to flair with the Foxes diving into challenges to try and disrupt Bournemouth's flow.
Wes Morgan was given his marching orders in the 69th minute for a second yellow card after one overly-aggressive challenge too many.
With the visitors already down and out, the match appeared to be over in the 81st minute when Smith smashed home the Cherries' fourth goal, but in true Foxes fashion they weren't ready to give up yet.
Maddison converted an 88th minute penalty after Pereira was stupidly tripped by Diego Rico before things got really interesting less than 60 seconds later when Albrighton nodded a neat header past a diving Begovic.
Unfortunately, it proved to be too little too late for the visitors as they fell to a thoroughly entertaining 4-2 defeat.
