Fulham 2-2 Bournemouth: Cottagers come from behind twice to earn a point

To think, seven weeks ago, Gary O’Neil led his son Carter-Jae’s Under-9s’ team to beat. Now he is unbeaten in six Premier League games as a starting interim coach.

O’Neil was not a serious candidate when the Bournemouth vacancy first became available following Scott Parker’s resignation in late August. He was a layover; a ‘he’ll do it for now’ arrangement.

Yet Bournemouth have become a different team since that 9-0 defeat to Liverpool. They will be disappointed with this draw as they led twice and were tied back twice, but they can say they are in the top half of the Premier League table.

Above Liverpool. Above Everton. Far above Nottingham Forest and far above Southampton. Especially those other teams whose chances of survival were greater than theirs as Bournemouth started this season as favorites to drop out.

Parker was elbowed after criticizing the strength of the squad at his disposal. O’Neil has avoided such mistakes and pulls a tune from this supposedly broken banjo.

Until the acquisition of American billionaire Bill Foley is completed, it’s unlikely we’ll make a decision about the next permanent Bournemouth boss. But my word, the 39-year-old newbie that is O’Neil can’t do much more than he is now.

Bournemouth led at one minute and three seconds thanks to a glorious one-two between their front two. Philip Billing was played from behind before handing the pass back to Dominic Solanke, who defeated Bernd Leno 1-0 – a perfect start to O’Neil’s sixth game as caretaker.

Fulham answered back in the 22nd minute. How simple it was. Andreas Palhinha crossed his corner and Issa Diop headed past Wolves goalkeeper Neto to make the 1-1.

Bournemouth wanted some help regaining the lead when Tim Ream grabbed the arm of Ryan Fredericks, who was breaking behind him. ‘VAR’ chanted Bournemouth supporters. Robert Jones glanced at Stockley Park, but decided there wasn’t enough to suggest a penalty.

Nevertheless, after 28 minutes Bournemouth did take a 2-1 lead as Solanke found space down the right-hand side. He fed Jefferson Lerma, who shot the ball into the bottom corner.

Fulham’s defense had been terrible and in half an hour we would have seen three goals.

Without Leno we would have seen Bournemouth’s fourth goal. In the 40th minute, he saved a header from Lerma and denied Adam Smith the rebound from zero.

At halftime, the talk in the press room was that there would be at least two more goals in this match. It was such an open competition; one end to the other. Whether it ended 4-1 for Bournemouth or 3-2 for Fulham, however, was a guess.

Aleksandar Mitrovic, who started for the first time since October 1 due to an ankle injury, had hardly seen the goal against. Fulham know they are not the same without him and whether he was fully fit here was questionable.

But in the 51st minute he won Fulham a penalty. Pereira had reached the ball and Lerma hugged Mitrovic like it was Valentine’s Day. Referee Graham Scott rightly pointed to the penalty spot and the Serbian striker stepped up to make it 2-2.

Twice Bournemouth had led and twice Fulham pulled it back. Solanke might have given the visitors a 3-2 lead when he broke behind, but Leno came to a stop to make a good save.

Fulham wanted a penalty in the 72nd minute when Smith awkwardly challenged Bobby De Cordova-Reid. Scott gave nothing and the VAR said there was no obvious and obvious mistake.

When we went into the last 10 minutes it was all Fulham. Bournemouth lived dangerously and risked their first defeat under O’Neil. He replaced their two strikers, Solanke and Billing, as the visitors held out for the point.