AFC Bournemouth come back to defeat Queens Park Rangers in FA Cup

Two goals in two minutes before the half-time whistle from Sinclair Armstrong and Lyndon Dykes had put Cherries’ FA Cup hopes under threat.

Marcus Tavernier pulled one back three minutes into the second half, before Kieffer Moore levelled scores prior to the hour mark.

Half-time sub Justin Kluivert completed the comeback on 70 minutes, sending Cherries into the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Head coach Andoni Iraola still managed to field a strong team despite making seven changes from the side defeated at Tottenham Hotspur last time out.

Captain Neto was swapped out in between the sticks for understudy Mark Travers’ first start for Cherries of the season, whilst Illia Zabarnyi was replaced by Chris Mepham.

Tavernier became the latest stand in at left-back, with Max Aarons starting on the opposite flank as Adam Smith and Dango Ouattara dropped out of the squad entirely, the latter due to injury.

Antoine Semenyo was unavailable after departing to join up with Ghana ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations, with Dominic Solanke, Kluivert, and Ryan Christie making way for Moore, David Brooks, and Philip Billing respectively.

It was almost the dream start for the away side as Tavernier’s cross found Moore at the back stick.

The striker met the ball with a decent header, but Morgan Fox was on hand to clear off the line.

That was as close as either side came for some time. QPR found some joy on the break, whilst Cherries struggled to bypass the hosts’ smothering defence whenever they broke into the box.

Billing’s neat one-two with Sinisterra culminated in the former flashing an effort past the far post at a tight angle.

There was a scare at the other end when Armstrong was released against Mepham, but the centre-back did well to escort the attacker to the byline, forcing the eventual effort into too acute an angle to truly trouble Travers in the Cherries goal.

The same could not be said for Marcos Senesi’s duel with the QPR striker. A similar scenario saw Armstrong brush past the Argentine, before standing up Travers and curling the opener into the far corner.

Before Cherries could properly digest going behind, they found themselves trailing by two.

A similar situation saw a ball down Cherries’ right bypass the defence, allowing Dykes to drift from out wide into the box.

The Scottish international tried his luck, and found fortune as the shot deflected off Aarons to loop over Travers, Rangers’ second goal in two minutes.

Changes were rung at the break, with Welsh duo Mepham and Brooks hooked for first-team regulars Christie and Kluivert.

There was no change in shape despite a defender being replaced by a midfielder, Cook dropping into the backline and donning the captain’s armband after Brooks’ departure.

Iraola had discussed Rangers’ deficiencies at defending set-pieces prior to the game, and Cherries’ second corner of the match led to a goal.

It was not a conventionally taken dead ball, with Scott feeding the ball to Billing at the near post.

The Dane’s neat flick found Tavernier arriving from outside the area, a deflection off Jimmy Dunne sending the ball past former Cherry Asmir Begovic in the QPR goal.

Cherries grew in confidence after pulling one back, and pestered the QPR defence in search of a second.

Some nice interplay between Tavernier and Sinisterra saw the latter draw a batted-save from Begovic, before the former’s effort on the rebound was remarkably pushed onto the frame of the goal by the Bosnian goalie.

However, Begovic’s heroics were in vain, as Cherries found their equaliser at the resultant corner.

A pinpoint delivery from Scott allowed Moore to attack the near post, his header crashing into the back of the net to restore parity.

Cherries were not finished there, sensing that this tie could be won without need of a replay at Vitality Stadium,

Billing bullied QPR’s Dunne out wide to win the ball high up the pitch, the midfielder drifting towards the byline as he weighed up his options in the area.

His patience paid off, as Kluivert arrived into acres of space inside the six-yard box, but Billing found the perfect ball to allow the substitute to poke home into an empty net.

Despite giving at least as good as they got in the first period, the hosts were kept quiet in the final 45.

Aarons had to be alert when Albert Adomah’s cross into the goalmouth found Dykes, the right-back’s sliding intervention enough to deny the Scot a second.

That was as close as the home side came to an equaliser, allowing Cherries to advance to the fourth round of the competition.

QPR: Begovic; Drewe (Kakay, 61), Dunne, Fox, Larkeche, Dozzell, Dixon-Bonner (Penner, 89), Field (Talla, 80), Dykes (Paal, 80), Smyth (Adomah, 61), Armstrong.

Unused subs: Clarke-Salter, Cannon, Duke-McKenna, Salamon.

Cherries: Travers; Aarons, Mepham (Christie, h-t), Senesi, Tavernier; Cook, Scott; Brooks (Kluivert, h-t), Billing (Adu-Adjei, 89), Sinisterra; Moore (Zabarnyi, 84).

Unused subs: Greenwood, Kilkenny, Rothwell, Marcondes, Radu (g/k).

Booked: Billing, Cook, Aarons.

Referee: Rebecca Welch.

Attendance: 10,725.