A seething Everton manager David Moyes could barely contain his annoyance after his side self-destructed to lose 2-1 to Bournemouth.
The hosts looked in control, if not comfortable, after Iliman Ndiaye’s first-half penalty but they fell apart in eight second-half minutes to blow their chance of moving into sixth in the Premier League and enhancing their unlikely push for European football.
They twice conceded uncontested headers, from £25million January signing Rayan and Amine Adli, and then had Jake O’Brien sent off for bringing down Adli as he tried to race through.
In a press conference which lasted around two minutes and 40 seconds Moyes was left to bemoan a couple of missed chances which fell to Thierno Barry six yards out and one Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall strike which was headed over by James Hill.
“We probably missed a couple of half-chances, good chances, to get the second goal so we only have ourselves to blame, no-one else,” he said.
“The players are doing a great job here, we just didn’t have quite enough tonight.”
Moyes refused to offer an opinion on O’Brien’s red card, saying: “No opinion on it, no opinion on referees anymore.”
Defeat was their fifth at Hill Dickinson Stadium – they have won only four and just once since November 8 – but Moyes was in no mood to offer any insight into why they are struggling so much at their new home.
“(We are) playing good teams in the Premier League. Bournemouth are a good team.”
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola was honest enough to accept his side probably did not play well enough to deserve to win the game.
“I am happy with the result,” he said.
“To be honest I don’t think it has been our best performance but football is like this.
“We played better against Villa the other day and didn’t win the game, just one point. Today probably a draw would have been, I think, a more fair result but we found a way.
“A set-piece, important for us, as Everton are one of the best teams defensively so to score against them like this and win the game was a nice thing.”
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