BOURNEMOUTH cruised to a 1-0 win over Wolves in their first home game of the season.
Marcus Tavernier’s early effort was enough to hand the Cherries the win, with manager Andoni Iraola’s only regret likely being that it wasn’t a bigger scoreline.
Toti Gomes’ cynical red card for a denial of a goalscoring opportunity early in the second half was the killing blow for Wolves, who failed to claw their way back from their poor start.
Tavernier opened the scoring inside the first five minutes as his low effort across goal took a nasty deflection off Emmanuel Agbadou and looped in off the crossbar.
The bar would feature again as Antoine Semenyo beat Jose Sa to Harry Brooks’ cross, but could only cannon the ball off the woodwork from point blank range.
Wolves were under the cosh right up to the half-time whistle, with Brooks and Alex Scott both having clear chances to double the Cherries’ advantage.
The half-time break should have been a time for Wolves to gather themselves, take stock of their one-goal disadvantage, and head back out with a renewed calm.
This calm, if there ever was any, was shattered four minutes into the second period, when Gomes cynically pushed Evanilson over after he got in behind the Wolves’ defensive line.
The referee quickly showed Gomes a red card, forcing Wolves to face down the final 40 minutes with 10 men.
They managed to stop the bleeding in defence with a stalwart display in the face of increasing Bournemouth pressure, but that is all they could do as the home side coasted to a comfortable win.
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS
