Bournemouth 0 Newcastle 1
Rob Elliot helped ease Ireland's goalkeeping concerns with an excellent display between the sticks during Newcastle United's 1-0 win over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
Darren Randolph looks set to retain his place in Martin O'Neill's starting line up for next week's European championship play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina after Shay Given ruled himself out following an operation on his knee.
Yet that blow was cushioned slightly for O’Neill by the news that Elliot was considered fit enough to feature for Newcastle this weekend after a thigh strain, and his man of the match performance will certainly have put him in the reckoning to earn a fourth cap.
O’Neill also has David Forde and Keiren Westwood available to him but after a number of crucial saves in holding a clean sheet, Elliot will be pushing hard to feature in what would be his first competitive game for Ireland.
The United goalkeeper thwarted the dominant hosts with a string of fine saves, handing manager Steve McClaren his first win on the road.
Ayoze Perez’s sucker-punch strike secured the points for Newcastle, who only produced that solitary shot on target at Dean Court.
Newcastle rode their luck en route to their second Barclays Premier League win of the campaign, and their first away victory since a 3-0 triumph at Hull City on January 31st.
Elliot pulled off at least five crucial saves to frustrate Eddie Howe’s creative but toothless Bournemouth — and that after remaining a doubt right up until kick-off.
Newcastle took teenage academy keeper Brendan Pearson to the south coast, and the 18-year-old even warmed up just in case Elliot’s injury worsened again.
McClaren did not need to call on the youngster, however, as Elliot eased Newcastle’s goalkeeping woes with Tim Krul and Karl Darlow sidelined.
Bournemouth laid consistent siege to his goal in a one-sided first-half, only to turn around trailing to the visitors’ solitary strike.
Josh King and Matt Ritchie will kick themselves for weak finishes, while Adam Smith fired just over with the goal at his mercy.
Elliot’s best save of the half came from Dan Gosling’s far-post header — the 29-year-old stopper cementing his inspired showing with a smart point-blank save.
Bournemouth should have easily capitalised on Newcastle’s midfield misalignment and defensive disarray — instead McClaren’s men rode their luck and grabbed the lead.
Aleksandar Mitrovic’s flick opened the space for Georginio Wijnaldum to play in Perez, with the Spain forward toe-poking home.
Adam Federici ought to have kept out the tame effort, but Newcastle’s battling horde could hardly have cared less.
The second half opened in exactly the same vein as the first, with Elliot again denying the hosts.
Ritchie raced onto a dangerous cross to head goalwards, only for the Newcastle goalkeeper to tip over the bar.
Gosling fluffed another effort to continue the trend and then Junior Stanislas blasted wildly over the bar in acres of space.
Chancel Mbemba barged Andrew Surman off the ball in the box just past the hour, but referee Lee Mason waved away Bournemouth’s penalty calls.
After so many half-chances and missed opportunities, the hosts’ heads finally dropped, leaving the tie to peter out somewhat.
A curiously-high tally of six additional minutes rallied Bournemouth slightly, but still Newcastle clung on for a victory to boost their bid to ease away from the relegation zone.
After the game the man of the match told BT Sport that he had only returned to training on Friday.
“I just wanted to make sure I got out there for the lads, I trained Friday and I’m pleased I did because obviously it’s nice to be in the team - and another clean sheet too, so two in a row now, it’s nice.”
