WOLVERHAMPTON, England (Reuters) -Bournemouth moved out of the Premier League relegation zone thanks to a second-half strike from Marcus Tavernier that gave them a 1-0 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
The south-coast club jumped from 19th to 17th on 21 points after 23 games, a point above the drop zone, after their first win since the World Cup break. Wolves stay in 15th place on 23.
“We needed to build on the performance we did last week (1-1 draw with Newcastle United) and it was important to pick up a big three points,” goalscorer Tavernier told the BBC.
“We have a lot of belief in the dressing room but we can’t look too high or low down the table, we just have to take every game (one) at a time.”
The hosts started strongly at Molineux with several early forays into Bournemouth’s penalty area, but were unable to make the most of their momentum in the first half.
Pablo Sarabia and Adama Traore, who was a constant threat down the right, found the target with shots from tight angles, but their efforts were comfortably saved by Neto.
Gary O’Neil’s visitors began the second half on the front foot and were rewarded with a goal in the 49th minute as Dominic Solanke squared for Tavernier to bundle in with his thigh.
The strike was Tavernier’s third league goal in four games, after he missed a string of matches due to a hamstring injury.
“I didn’t know too much about (the goal)… My first thought was to get in the box and then I’ve stuck my leg out towards the goal and it has gone into the back of the net,” Tavernier added.
Wolves piled on the pressure as they desperately sought an equaliser and Ruben Neves stung Neto’s palm with a long-range effort but Bournemouth stood firm to earn their first away clean sheet of the season.
“We needed a little bit of help after the first half, Wolves had a little bit of control and we didn’t manage to get up the pitch as much as we would have liked,” O’Neil told the BBC. “We switched things around and I thought the boys were very good second half.”
While the team may have crept out of the relegation zone for now, O’Neil was clear that their task was far from over.
“It doesn’t mean too much to me. We need to be out of the bottom three at the end of May,” he said.
“It’s really fine margins, and we’ve managed to swing them in our favour today.”
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris and Hugh Lawson)
