Eddie Howe hailed Bournemouth’s first away win over south coast rivals Southampton as a “precious moment” and a fitting opportunity to reflect on the club’s remarkable recent history.
Goals from Nathan Ake, Harry Wilson and Callum Wilson earned the Cherries a historic 3-1 success at St Mary’s.
Bournemouth, who had been deducted 17 points and were struggling in the fourth tier when Howe began his first spell as manager in January 2009, had registered just six draws from their previous 15 trips to their local rivals, losing the other nine.
“At last! It’s a nice feeling. Thankfully next time we come back that won’t be the topic of conversation,” said Howe.
“But a really nice moment for our supporters to enjoy and for us all to enjoy together.
“You could feel the emotion from us to them, and them to us. That’s where you have to think back to where times were and understand that this is a precious moment and we very much enjoyed it.
“When you consider how far this club’s come in recent years and how bleak the outlook was at times, to think we would win here in the Premier League, at one stage we would never have thought that was possible.
“It’s a nice moment just to acknowledge that and now get back to work and try and win again.”
After Ake’s early opener, Cherries forward Joshua King had a goal disallowed by VAR for a marginal offside call, before Liverpool loanee Harry Wilson ensured the visitors would take a two-goal lead into half-time.
James Ward-Prowse’s penalty early in the second period gave Saints hope of a comeback, before England striker Callum Wilson sealed the points in stoppage time with his fourth strike in three games.
Howe felt his players’ quick recovery from that disappointment of King’s goal being chalked off was a crucial moment and paved the way for the memorable win.
“I was devastated when it was disallowed, obviously because you want to win the game, but also disappointed from a beauty perspective because I loved the goal,” said Howe.
“But we had to psychologically recover and that’s why the next goal was great to see, the players put it to the back of their minds.
“We’ve done work on it (being on the receiving end of a VAR decision), we’ve tried to discuss things with the players.
“Ultimately you never quite know how you are going to react until the moment.
“You just hope that they quickly switch and focus back on the football, which we did really impressively.
“That was probably the defining moment, how we were going to react to that setback. It was a real test and we came through it.”
Southampton enjoyed 65 per cent possession and registered 25 attempts at goal to Bournemouth’s five.
Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl felt his team paid the price for a sloppy start to the game.
“I think we lost this game in the first half with a not really good performance,” said the Austrian.
“We didn’t play as committed and as stabilised as we have been the last games. If you are two down, it’s always difficult to come back.
“We had the chances in the second half to turn the table, we invested a lot but when you miss these chances you don’t get anything.”
Asked if the loss was more painful because Southampton had never previously been beaten at home by Bournemouth, he replied: “Every defeat hurts.
“I cannot have a level from one to 10 how much. It’s like a 10 for me in the moment. I cannot say it is more or less because it is the first time they win here.
“It was deserved because they scored three times and they were very clinical and we weren’t.
“We were maybe in every stat ahead of them but not in the most important one.”
