Brave Bournemouth beaten by Boselli belter
Eddie Howe's unbeaten return as Bournemouth boss ended as the Cherries could not recreate their famous FA Cup upset of 1984 following a hard-fought defeat to Wigan in their third round replay.
Bournemouth recorded a 2-0 third-round win over then-holders Manchester United under the guidance of Harry Redknapp a little more than 29 years ago but Howe's 18-game unbeaten run since taking over for his second spell on the south coast was ended by a much-altered Wigan side.
Roberto Martinez made nine changes to his team from that which drew at Fulham and one of those to come into the side, Argentina forward Mauro Boselli, struck a tremendous first-half goal to put the Barclays Premier League outfit into the next round.
There was not much to choose between both sides and the hosts certainly showed they were not going to roll over easily with a fourth-round tie at Macclesfield in the offing and twice saw long-range efforts crack against the crossbar.
The game started very evenly with the slippery surface not helping either side to get the ball down and play.
Bournemouth's fans would have been buoyed by the way they matched their top-flight opponents until Wigan broke the deadlock after 18 minutes.
Cherries' midfielder Harry Arter slipped on the ball to gift possession to Boselli, who arrowed a shot into the top corner of Shwan Jalal's goal from 20 yards out.
Much like in the contest at the DW Stadium the npower League One side were certainly not overawed and had some joy in wide positions without testing Latics' stand-in goalkeeper Mike Pollitt in the opening 30 minutes.
Callum McManaman came close to a second for the visitors after his close control in the box allowed him to fire a low shot which was well held by Jalal.
Eunan O'Kane, who opened the scoring at Wigan, was inches away from scoring a memorable equalising goal late on in the first half.
The former Everton trainee stole the ball in the Wigan half and played a one-two with Wes Thomas before rifling a shot that left Pollitt stranded but thundered against the bar.
Despite not starting the second half with the same level of intensity, Bournemouth were still the more likely to create a chance to score the second goal of the game.
A long throw from Charlie Daniels caused a moment of panic within the Wigan box with an hour on the clock but Josh McQuoid could not make good enough contact at the back-post to steer a header past Ali Al Habsi, who had replaced Pollitt at half-time for Wigan.
The visitors broke and an Angelo Henriquez effort forced a corner from which Roman Golobart thought he had doubled their lead - but the effort was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.
Arter, looking to atone for his first-half error, stung the palms of Al Habsi with 68 minutes gone as the Oman goalkeeper could only push his long-range effort behind for a corner.
Substitute Wes Fogden then saw a goalbound effort blocked by Golobart before Jalal made a superb save to prevent Boselli netting with a low header.
Bournemouth continued to attack in an attempt to take the tie to extra-time but found the crossbar in the way once more when substitute Mark Pugh's 30-yard effort cannoned back off the woodwork with less than five minutes of normal time remaining.
Nouha Dicko screwed a fantastic chance wide in injury time which would have given the visitors a flattering two-goal margin before a Matt Tubbs free-kick was turned around the post by a fully out-stretched Al Habsi as Bournemouth searched in vain for an equaliser.
Source: DSG
Source: DSG