PORTSMOUTH FOOTBALL CLUB

Andy Barcham’s fine strike failed to stop the Blues from losing at Championship Bournemouth.

The winger scored midway through the second half to cancel out Mohamed Coulibaly’s opener.

But substitute Harry Cornick secured victory for the Cherries 10 minutes from time – with the aid of a huge deflection.

There were plenty of former Pompey players on show for the hosts, with Darryl Flahavan and Wes Thomas both starting and Richard Hughes coming off the bench.

Blues youth product Matt Ritchie was not involved, but watched proceedings from a box behind the press area.

Pompey more than held their own against their higher-level opponents in the opening stages, with Patrick Agyemang looking particularly threatening.

But neither goalkeeper had much to contend with as most of the action was taking place in the middle of the park.

Charlie Daniels did send a dangerous low ball into the box on 18 minutes, but it was just out of reach for the onrushing Thomas.

Flahavan was finally called into action soon after, but the keeper was not overly troubled by Tom Craddock’s shot.

It was the hosts who broke the deadlock on 34 minutes, however, when Coulibaly’s 30-yard drive arrowed into the bottom corner of Phil Smith’s net.

Bournemouth probably should have extended their advantage soon after, but Thomas failed to find the target from close range after meeting Simon Francis’ cross.

The striker then saw his acrobatic over-head effort bounce narrowly wide of the post just before the break.

Half Time: Bournemouth 1 Pompey 0

Hughes was one of seven Bournemouth players to come on at the start of the second half.

Whittingham, by contrast, made just one change, with Danny East replacing Dan Butler at left-back.

The substitutions clearly took the sting out of the game, with both sides struggling to get into gear following the restart.

But the Blues scored with their first decent chance of the match on 63 minutes.

It was a lovely finish from BARCHAM to level, with the winger curling a fine strike past Shwan Jalal and into the net from 25 yards.

David Connolly and Jed Wallace were given a run-out for the final 20 minutes, coming on for Johnny Ertl and Agyeang.

But the Cherries were next to go close and almost retook the lead when Jayden Stockley met Ian Harte’s cross and headed against the post.

Bournemouth did grab the winner on 80 minutes, however, with Cornick’s strike taking a wicked deflection to beat Smith.

Bournemouth: Flahavan (Jalal 46); Francis (Butterfield 46), Addison (Elphick 46), Cook (Ward 46), Daniels (Harte 46); Arter (Wakefield 69), MacDonald (Hughes 46); Fraser (Matthews 28), Coulibaly (Cornick 46), Pugh (Losasso 64); Thomas (Stockley 64)

Goals: Coulibaly 34, Cornick 80

Subs not used: Chiedozie, Cargill, Bassele, Goodship

Pompey: Smith; Moutaouakil, Devera, Bradley, Butler (East 46); Holmes, Ertl (c) (Connolly 69), Padovani, Barcham; Agyemang (Wallace 69), Craddock (Harris 81)

Goals: Barcham 63

Subs not used: Sullivan, Webster, Bird

Referee: Andy Davies

Attendance: 1,806 (312 Pompey fans)