NOTTINGHAM, England (Reuters) -Jaidon Anthony came off the bench to inspire Bournemouth to a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest as they bounced back from two goals down in a thrilling clash of the promoted sides in the Premier League on Saturday.
Cheikhou Kouyate and Brennan Johnson gave Forest a 2-0 lead by half time but Bournemouth produced a terrific performance in the second half, rallying through goals from Philip Billing, Dominic Solanke and Anthony.
Anthony scored the winning goal in the 87th minute as he coolly side-footed a finish past Forest goalkeeper Dean Henderson following a pass from Solanke.
The victory came as a relief to Bournemouth, who played out a goalless draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the last game and were thrashed 9-0 by Liverpool last week, which led to the sacking of Scott Parker.
“Going in at 2-0 was a real blow for us. The boys still believed, made a few changes and dug in. Proud of what we achieved,” Bournemouth interim manager Gary O’Neil told the BBC.
“It has been a whirlwind the last four, five days and the staff still here have been so good for me.”
Earlier, Senegal midfielder Kouyate put Forest in the lead in the 33rd minute after he rose highest in the box to power home a header from Morgan Gibbs-White’s corner kick.
Forest made it 2-0 before the break when forward Johnson scored an ice-cool penalty, following a lengthy VAR review after a handball incident by Bournemouth skipper Lloyd Kelly.
While Forest had a shaky start in the second half, Bournemouth look determined and responded quickly with central midfielder Billing finding the target in the 51st minute with a stunning strike from around 30 yards out.
Forest could have added a third goal when the ball was played out to midfielder Jesse Lingard on the right, but the former Manchester United player put too much pace on the cross, which whistled past the far post.
The miss proved to be costly as striker Solanke scored his 50th goal for Bournemouth to make it 2-2 in the 63rd minute, pulling off a superb acrobatic effort which flew into the net via a slight deflection off Scott McKenna.
Anthony then completed the comeback for Bournemouth, scoring within minutes of coming off the bench, as the team jumped three spots to 13th in the table with seven points from six matches.
Free-spending Forest, who suffered their third straight league defeat, dropped into the relegation zone in 18th spot on four points.
“We were good for the 2-0 lead in the first half… We were comfortable but it was a really poor first goal to concede and it set the tone,” said Forest manager Steve Cooper. “We looked like two different teams.
“The performance in the second half cost us the game… For large parts of the second half it was not good enough but we have to take it on the chin.”
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru;Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Hugh Lawson)
