- Dango Ouattara netted twice to help Bournemouth beat West Brom 5-1 at home
- The Cherries enjoyed a goal-fest in front of their home crowd at the Vitality
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Just as they have been in the Premier League, the Cherries were at their ripest to see off West Brom and book their place in the Fourth Round.
Caleb Taylor’s shock opener for the Baggies was cancelled out by a brace from Dango Ouattara and goals from Justin Kluivert, Antoine Semenyo and Daniel Jebbison.
It extends Bournemouth’s unbeaten run to nine games and nobody will want to face Andoni Iraola’s side at the next stage.
‘First of all, I wanted to win – playing well or not, to win,’ said Iraola.
‘We didn’t panic when we conceded first. The forwards have played very well so I am really pleased.
‘A lot of players have played in positions that are probably not their strongest and everyone has helped us.’
Bournemouth beat West Brom 5-1 to advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday
The Baggies opened the scoring through Caleb Taylor but were blown away by the Cherries
Dango Ouattara’s brace before half-time helped the Cherries overturn the early 1-0 deficit
Managerless West Brom led when Taylor seized on a loose ball to score after Grady Diangana had first headed John Swift’s free-kick against the crossbar.
But Bournemouth were only behind for 13 minutes. Kluivert equalised when David Brooks’ low cross evaded everyone to allow the Dutchman to creep in at the far post a score into the roof of the net.
The home side were in full control at the break and went in front with Kluivert, this time, the architect, cutting in off the left wing and slipping a pass into Dango Ouattara to score from a tight angle.
Then on the stroke of half-time, Ouattara added his second, Bournemouth’s third after a strong run and pass from Brooks left him with only Joe Wildsmith to beat.
Iraola brought on the influential Antoine Semenyo at half time and he scored with almost his first touch, rifling Brooks’ pass into the roof of the net, to take the game beyond West Brom.
With seconds remaining, substitute Daniel Jebbison scored his first goal for Bournemouth, latching onto Semenyo’s pass and scoring via a touch off Wildsmith.
Interim manager Chris Brunt said: ‘It’s disappointing to lose by such a heavy defeat. We started the game really well, got a goal ahead and that was the worst thing that could have happened really.
‘I think the goal after half time is an absolute killer but, on the whole you could tell they had more in the tank in the second half. It was pretty comfortable for them,’ he said.
Interim West Brom manager Chris Brunt admitted disappointment at the heavy 5-1 defeat
