Key events
Will Unwin was at Turf Moor: here’s his report.
Lewis Cook, today’s outstanding player, spoke to Sky: “It is massive. We went on a run in the early part of the season and we want to replicate that, the past month has not been the best.”
Josh Cullen, Burnley’s captain, spoke to the BBC: “We can be pleased with a lot of the parts of our game but the overriding emotion is bitterly disappointed we haven’t got anything to show for it.
“We started the game really well, we were on top and creating chances but one chance for them and you get punished. We are learning the hard way. After last week we had to show a bit of fight and spirit today. I think we did that. The desire and spirt was there.
“Every decision that has been a close one this season seems to go against us. We won’t stop fighting until the day is done and there’s still enough points left to get us out of this situation.”
The table looks grand for Bournemouth, bleak for Burnley.
Here’s the goal that sealed it for Bournemouth
Full-time: Burnley 0-2 Bournemouth
Burnley gave it everything but it wasn’t nearly enough. And that would seem to condemn them to next season’s Championship. They may soon run out of games, having not won in nine. Bournemouth win for the first time in 2024, two counterattacking goals getting the job done.
90+4 min: “Sacked in the morning” goes the Bournemouth song to Big Vin. That seems unlikely. “We are staying up” is the other song. That’s highly likely.
90+2 min: Trafford, under heavy pressure, has to hoik the ball into the sky. He’s a keeper under pressure from fans, too, the £15m man. Not that he could do much for either goals.
90 min: Six minutes added on, after both teams make changes in the aftermath of that decisive goal.
88′ Rodriguez and Gudmundsson replace O’Shea and Cullen.
0-2
— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) March 3, 2024
89 min: Bournemouth may just have secured Premier League football for next season with that goal. They’ve also gone some way to condemning Burnley to the Championship. Attacking quality has told here.
Goal! Burnley 0-2 Bournemouth (Semenyo, 88)
He’s had a few sighters, but Lewis Cook, who created the first, sends away Semenyo, and his shot is deflected past a dumbfounded Trafford.
87 min: Perhaps David Moyes has headed to the Etihad. Has he missed a grandstand finish here? The signs aren’t positive as Neto leaps to claim the ball with no challenge on him.
85 min: Here comes Burnley’s big push. Or does it? Odobert clanks a cross behind the goalline. Too wasteful, too often.
84 min: Burnley fans baying for blood after Smith smashes into Taylor. It’s a yellow only.
83 min: It’s Bournemouth on the attack now but Adam Smith, who’s had a good game, makes a horlicks of a pass and the attack comes to its end.
81 min: David Moyes, at Turf Moor on a scouting mission, has left the building. Trying to beat the traffic, no doubt. He still lives locally, Lytham way. Lovely spot.
79 min: James Trafford is way out of his goal as Burnley try and push up. Then sells O’Shea short with a pass. That’s the issue of the sweeper-keeper. As good on the ball as they might be, there’s still a chance they can be something of a clodhopper.
77 min: Burnley eventually make a change. Vitinho, who seemed to have run himself out, is replaced by Manuel Benson.
76 min: Another chance for Semenyo, who cuts in from the right and shoots. Wide again. The Bournemouth chances are stacking up.
75 min: Fine forward play – genuine quality – from Solanke, who holds the ball up, and plays in Semenyo who misses. That deserved a better finish.
73 min: Kluivert, the goalscorer, is off, and on comes Big Phil Billing. Semenyo meanwhile, drifts a cross that nobody seems to want to chase. Funny game, this. And perhaps a good indicator as to why both teams have been on such ruinous runs.
71 min: Burnley want a penner, Alex Scott stepping across and the ball takes a while to go dead to see if VAR will rule it. Odobert tried to buy that, and his money was refused.
70 min: Big Vin makes the change: Amdouni is on for Bruun Larsen.
68 min: More boos as Tavernier clatters Cullen and only gets a yellow. The home fans audible now, in questioning the probity of the Premier League. Vitinho is booked for dissent, too. David Coote is not a popular man.
67 min: Burnley have the ball in the net. Cullen taps in after Bruun Larsen beats Adam Smith to the ball in the air. But foul given. Adam Smith bought that foul. And the boos ring out. Big Vin is aghast.
66 min: No-nonsense stuff from Kerkez who comes out to wallop the ball into the stands to put a Vitinho sortie to its end. The Bournemouth fans are now mocking the volume levels among the Burnley fans.
64 min: There’s movement on the Burnley bench, and Big Vin is trying to change his team. He needs to do something, frankly.
62 min: Bournemouth not afraid of the long ball, either. That seems to be the next step from high pressing. Launching it over the press. Progress, they call it.
60 min: Bournemouth seem happy to sit back and soak up the not exactly white-hot pressure from Burnley. Neto is being well protected by his defenders.
58 min: Burnley’s buildup play is, by contrast, rather slow. Taylor’s cross is cleared away by Zabarnyi.
56 min: Bournemouth show their danger on the counter. Kluivert is sent away and Solanke shoots and Trafford saves well. Then Semenyo and Tavernier link and misses the target. The attacking quality in this match lies with the visitors.
55 min: The fans are trying to pep up this rather tepid affair. Burnley are at the stage of the season where they ought to be fighting for their lives but it’s all rather antiseptic.
52 min: A game that had a fizz in the first half seems to have lost its fire. For Bournemouth, Alex Scott goes down after a challenge from Berge. It doesn’t look like a penalty and it’s not given, either.
50 min: Andy in Abu Dhabi gets in touch: “Regarding your bizarre comment about Sweden being pretty, but ineffectual in 93-94 – that’ll be the Sweden that finished 3rd in the 94 World Cup?”
Andy in Abu Dhabi gets in touch again: “Oh never mind – you said Swindon, not Sweden. As you were.”
48 min: Burnley look to reassert the territorial dominance they enjoyed in the first half but Bruun Larsen.
46 min: Back away we go. Bournemouth have made a change as Alex Scott comes on for Ryan Christie. Scott has real talent, the former Bristol City player.
Half-time: Burnley 0-1 Bournemouth
The difference between the teams is that Justin Kluivert managed to finish a chance while Burnley have struggled to create too much, while looking far too vulnerable in defence. The teams leave the field to a chorus of boos.
45+6 min: Semenyo, already on a booking, fouls Esteve with a shove. The free-kick from Bruun Larsen is poor.
45+3 min: A Bournemouth corner, taken by Cook, and it comes to Tavernier whose shot is so bad it ends up being a rather decent crossfield pass.
45+1 min: Six minutes has been added on, and within the first, Vitinho heads over.
45 min: OOOH! Bruun Larsen thwacks it and Neto makes a fine save, the ball coming back off the crossbar and out again.
44 min: Free-kick in a promising position after Cullen is cropped down by Kluivert. That hurt, it was nasty. A yellow card is waved. VAR looks at a possible red but he will stay on the field for now.
42 min: Burnley go closest yet. Fofana in a one on one with Neto, and the ball then falling to Bruun Larsen, Adam Smith slides in to block. Meanwhile, Semenyo is booked for hauling down Bruun Larsen.
41 min: It’s oh so quiet at Turf Moor. The Bournemouth fans will have had an early start for their 570 mile round trip. Burnley fans hum with dissatisfaction.
39 min: Esteve trips up Solanke, who had drawn the foul. Free-kick in a dangerous position. Tavernier will take, and he whips in with his left but not below the bar.
37 min: Cook’s pass down the flanks is intercepted, and the ball is back with Trafford. Tavernier then robs Assignon and Bournemouth choose to slow their attack rather than take their usual direct route. Neither team is much cop at holding on to the ball.
