Sports

Southampton beat south-coast rivals Bournemouth

Southampton beat south-coast rivals Bournemouth

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Southampton's Graziano Pelle shoots the ball against Bournemouth during their English Premier League match at the St Maryu0092s Stadium in Southampton on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

Southampton, November 2 Southampton beat Bournemouth 2-0 on Sunday in the Premier League in a rare meeting of the south-coast rivals. Ronald Koeman’s Saints dominated the first half against the newly promoted Cherries with Steven Davis opening the scoring in the 31st minute and Graziano Pelle adding a second goal five minutes later. Southampton’s Victor Wanyama was sent off with 10 minutes remaining for two yellow cards but Bournemouth failed to take advantage of their numerical advantage. “We worked hard, they were trying to frustrate us,” Pelle told British broadcaster Sky Sports. “We have to maybe improve some parts when we are two or three up, but we were good in the defensive part.” Southampton are seventh with 17 points from 11 matches to keep in touch with the race for European spots. At the other end of the table, Bournemouth are only a point away from the relegation zone after losing four of their last five league games. The last meeting between these two teams at St Mary’s Stadium was five years ago in the third tier, with Rickie Lambert getting the goals in another 2-0 win for Southampton. The hosts took the lead as Pelle played in Ryan Bertrand and his cross was turned home from close range by Davis. Things got worse for the Cherries moments later as Sadio Mane’s superb ball out to the wing was collected by Dusan Tadic, who crossed for Pelle to power home a second Southampton goal with his head. Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe brought on Junior Stanislas at the interval, and the substitute came close to his first league goal since August 2014 when he whipped a free-kick inches wide of Maarten Stekelenburg’s left-hand upright.