Stoke City 1 Bournemouth 2: First half goals from Junior Stanislas and Andrew Surman secure first away points

MARK HUGHES’ was left cursing Stoke’s soft-centred defence AGAIN as his Potters slid into the drop zone.

First half strikes from Andrew Surman and a Junior Stanislas penalty had Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth in dreamland as they stormed into a two-goal lead inside 20 minutes. It was the last thing Hughes needed after his side’s seven-goal capitulation at Manchester City last week.

The under-fire Welshman had tried to shore up his defence with the return of long-term absentee, skipper Ryan Shawcross.

However despite adopting a five-man defence when Bournemouth had possession The Cherries swiftly exposed Stoke’s defensive frailties with two goals in a blistering 90 second burst.

Andrew Surman cashed in with the Cherries’ opener with their first effort on goal after 16 minutes, steering a low left-footer beyond Jack Butland from 22 yards. Stoke were rattled and committed suicide straight from the restart as they took kick off and somehow managed to concede a throw-in without any pressure from Bournemouth.

They paid a heavy price when the ball was worked to Stanislas who produced a brilliant backheel into Benik Afobe’s path and a rusty Shawcross sent him crashing to concede a penalty.

Stanislas then rolled the ball into the centre of Butland’s net to give Bournemouth a  2-0 lead at half-time and it could have been worse if Butland hadn’t denied Jordan Ibe with a fingertip save following another Cherries raid.

However the Potters, with Peter Crouch on for Glenn Johnson gave themselves a fighting chance when Mame Diouf pulled one back after 63 minutes. The striker crashed the  ball in off the underside of  Asmir Begovic’s bar from close range after Maxim Choupo-Moting had knocked back Erik Pieters long ball.

Stoke were convinced they should have had a penalty when Jese went down in the penalty area following a challenge from Adam Smith. However TV replays showed the Cherries defender played the ball at full-stretch.

Hughes is now under pressure after winning just one of his last eight matches in all competitions, as Bournemouth piled on the misery with only their second away Premier win in 14 attempts.

From The Sun