Marcus Tavernier stuns Wolves to fire Bournemouth to crucial victory

Marcus Tavernier nudged the ball over the goal line and Bournemouth above the dotted line as Gary O’Neil’s team ended a sequence of six successive away defeats to climb out of the relegation zone and keep Wolves involved in the battle at the bottom.

The recalled midfielder was on hand to score his third goal of the season as Bournemouth gained their first away point in four months with their only effort on target as Wolves failed to build on three wins in the last four, despite dominating with 68% possession.

Wolves, who started the day with the seventh best record in the Premier League since the World Cup, fall to within three points of the relegation zone. Bournemouth’s victory was built on superb organisation and their first clean sheet on the road.

Wolves had taken a while to get going but a couple of inspirational moments from Adama Traoré fired up both crowd and team. With Julen Lopetegui exhorting his players to release faster passes in a bid to break down Bournemouth’s compact set-up, Matheus Nunes appeared to overhit a high crossfield ball to Traoré on the right wing.

The Spanish winger leapt high, however, plucked the ball out of mid-air, turned and started running confidently at the defence. The whole of Molineux seemed to take an audible breath at the audacity of the skill.

It was clear this got his blood up. Soon after Traoré, starting as Wolves reshaped without the suspended Mario Lemina, collected the ball deep in his own half after a rare Bournemouth attack. He burst past several defenders as he accelerated into the visitors’ half. Eventually Philip Billing took one for the team, receiving a yellow card for bringing the winger down.

Defeated just once in four games, Bournemouth are showing clear signs