Marco Rose paid tribute to his Bournemouth side after a hard‑fought 2-1 victory at Ipswich equalled the club’s record of eight consecutive wins.
Evanilson got the ball rolling after five minutes, scoring for a fifth successive Premier League match. With seven goals this season, he has already beaten his tally from the whole of last season.
His latest was a gift from the Ipswich goalkeeper, Christian Walton, who tried and failed to dribble past him in the area, and Bournemouth went two up after 27 seconds of the second half when Leif Davis could only deflect Ryan Christie’s strike into his own net.
Lewis Cook tripped Abdoul Ouattara in the area to provide the hosts with a lifeline and Jack Clarke scored the penalty with 17 minutes left to set up a grandstand finish at Portman Road.
However, Bournemouth stood firm to make it eight wins in a row and match the record set under Eddie Howe in 2012-13, a season which ended with promotion from League One.
Speaking after a win which came three days after a victorious journey to Sparta Prague, Rose said: “I am pleased with the first 70 minutes because we went two up and I didn’t feel like we struggled or can get any problems, but it’s [the] Premier League and one goal changed the momentum of the game.
“That is why I am much more pleased with the last 20 minutes. We suffered but we did it together.”
A slow start last month at Chelsea proved costly for Bournemouth, and even in last weekend’s 2-0 home win against Leeds the visitors had an effort ruled out after 11 minutes. That made goals at the start of each half particularly sweet for Rose.
“Last week I said we start slow and this week I said we start quite quick and score an early goal. I am a magician!” the German said with a smile. “No, we know we have to be ready in this league. We played Chelsea four weeks ago and we were two down after three minutes. That’s why we learned and always good to score an early goal.
“We were sharp, we were good and that’s what I really appreciate. I said before this week that it’s going to be really demanding for a team that is not used to have this kind of [European] situation.”
Julio Enciso went close late on with two free‑kicks, but this defeat means Ipswich have only won one of their last seven in all competitions.
Gary O’Neil, their manager, said: “[We are] gutted with the result, firstly, because it’s what we are here for and probably performance-wise not much in it. To lose a football match you’ve not been outclassed in is hard to take. But if you give the ball to the opposition No 9 twice, it’s going to be difficult and that was the story of the game really.
“It’s the level so we have to find a way of not only being competitive in games, but can we now find a way to make sure these Hull [a 2-2 draw] and Bournemouth performances are four points and not one.”
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