Cherries on top after blowing Barnsley away
Bournemouth climbed to the top of the EFL Championship with an impressive 4-0 thrashing of Barnsley at Oakwell on Saturday (AEDT).
Goals from Philip Billing and Dominic Solanke gave the Cherries a two-goal cushion at the interval, with Diego Rico and Sam Surridge also finding the net in the second half.
In driving rain, Barnsley posed few problems for Jason Tindall's men and at no point looked likely to launch a comeback.
Bournemouth only had to wait until the 12th minute to get its nose in front when Adam Smith and David Brooks combined to set up Billing, who beat Jack Walton with a low drive from 20 yards.
Herbie Kane put a free-kick over as the hosts tried to reply but Bournemouth increased its lead in stoppage-time at the end of the half.
Steve Cook won possession, allowing Solanke to make a driving run into the area before firing low across Walton and into the corner of the net.
Rico added a third in the 52nd minute with a superb 30-yard effort.
Barnsley head coach Valerien Ismael made a triple substitution shortly before the hour-mark but the newcomers had little time to make an impact before Bournemouth made it 4-0 in the 68th minute.
Surridge seized on a loose ball and fired in a fierce shot which Walton got a hand to but could not keep out.
"Everyone, to a man, I felt, was excellent tonight and I felt we delivered a real good team performance and scored four good goals," Tindall said.
"I was also really pleased with a clean sheet. You want to score a lot of goals, but we need to tighten up defensively at times."
The Cherries' win moved them two points clear of second-placed Norwich City ahead of this weekend's remaining fixtures.
Tindall added: "We knew if we won here tonight, we'd go to the top of the league. That was a challenge and that was what we managed to do."
