by Dan Davis (@dan_davis20)
AFC Bournemouth ran out comfortable 4-0 winners over Huddersfield Town, after Callum Wilson’s sublime hat trick helped lift the Cherries further clear of the relegation zone.
Eddie Howe named an unchanged team, with Jermain Defoe missing out from the squad entirely, and Josh King and Callum Wilson continuing their strike partnership. Huddersfield Town, however, made two changes, with Cranie and Williams coming into the starting XI.
And it was the away side who started off the brighter, as they penned Bournemouth into their own half brilliantly. In the sixth minute, space opened up for Rajid van La Parra, who could only curl his effort into the chest of Asmir Begovic.
The Terriers continued to throw bodies forward, and the ever dangerous van La Parra let fly another effort, which had Begovic plunging down to his right. Just two minutes later, Scott Malone wriggled free of both Simon Francis and Jordon Ibe, and raced through on goal. But with only Begovic to beat, the Huddersfield full back could only stab narrowly wide.
This effort seemed to bring the Cherries players to life, and on the 25 minute mark, Charlie Daniels slid in heavily on Florent Hadergjonaj. Referee Lee Probert waved play on, much to the anger of the away fans, and Callum Wilson earned his side a corner.
An arching ball was looped into the six yard box, where Callum Wilson shrugged off the attentions of Aaron Mooy to fire a header home past Jonas Lossl.
Just five minutes later, the Cherries doubled their lead. Aaron Mooy slid in and gave away a free-kick, which was swung into the box by Andrew Surman. As the ball fell to the back post, Callum Wilson was on hand to tap home and grab his, and Bournemouth’s, second.
The quick-fire salvo had Huddersfield reeling, and Eddie Howe’s men began to flood forward looking for more. Harry Arter, coming off the back of his country’s failure to reach the Russia World Cup, threaded through Josh King, but the Norwegian could only lash into the side netting.
Huddersfield went down the other end and drew a foul from Simon Francis, who was shown a yellow card by Lee Probert. As the ball was whipped in, Elias Kachunga could only steer his header wide of Begovic’s goal.
After Jordon Ibe was replaced by Adam Smith, after a heavy knock, Lee Probert was forced into the centre of the action again. On the stroke of half time, Simon Francis, already on a booking, brought down van La Parra on the half way line, and after a lengthy pause the referee showed the full back his marching orders.
The sense of frustration at the referee was clear at the beginning of the second half, after Callum Wilson was penalised after bringing the ball down on his chest.
On the hour mark, David Wagner looked to the roll the dice, and brought on both Abdelhamid Sabiri and Collin Quaner. After the changes, Huddersfield began throw more bodies forward, and Asmir Begovic had to be alert to stab away a low driven cross with his boot.
Bournemouth rode their luck with some solid defending, and in the 70th minute looked to have sealed all three points.
The away side looked to play the ball out from the back through Scott Malone, but Arter raced in to win the ball, before jinking towards the penalty area. After creating a yard of space, the Irishman drove home emphatically into the bottom corner, leaving Lossl with no chance.
Another penalty decision was waved away by Lee Probert in the 83rd minute, after Callum Wilson looked to be racing towards goal before he was tackled just inside the penalty area.
But Wilson did eventually grab his hat-trick. Josh King held off three challenges just inside the box, before he rolled the ball back for his strike partner. Wilson finished emphatically across goal, to round off a sublime performance from him and hand the Cherries a crucial three points.
After a squandered chance to score a fifth from the home side, Lee Probert blew for full time.
The comfortable scoreline for the Cherries sees them move up to 13th for the time being, while the Terriers remain in tenth place. Eddie Howe has emphasised how important the run of fixtures across November and December will be, and with six points from six so far, he couldn’t have wished for a better start.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Callum Wilson
BOURNEMOUTH: Begovic, Francis, S. Cook, Ake, Daniels, Ibe, Surman, Arter, Pugh, King, Wilson
Subs: Boruc, Gosling, Afobe, Smith, L. Cook, Fraser, Mousset
HUDDERSFIELD: Lossl, Hadergjonaj, Jorgensen, Cranie, Malone, Williams, Mooy, Kachunga, Ince, van La Parra, Depoitre
Subs: Coleman, Smith, Whitehead, Sabiri, Lowe, Quaner, Mounie
Referee: Lee Probert