Charlie Austin goal enough to secure point for Southampton at Bournemouth

Hearing Charlie Austin’s name sang with gusto, loudly and proudly, at full time must have been Eddie Howe’s worst fear. It was the Southampton striker, who the Bournemouth manager repeatedly tried and failed to buy while he was on trial at the club from Poole Town in 2009, but later made his first signing at Burnley, who cancelled out Ryan Fraser’s opener to earn a share of the spoils in this entertaining clash between two south coast neighbours.

In truth, it is a point that does little for either team, who both will feel they could have taken victory on another day. Mauricio Pellegrino had cited the “bigger picture” pre-match, owing to the gruelling December schedule, this the first of seven matches this month, so it came as little surprise he made six changes from the team that came unstuck in the sixth minute of injury time against Manchester City in midweek – two of which were enforced with Cédric Soares and Shane Long missing with hamstring and calf injuries respectively. Jérémy Pied made his first league start since May at right-back while Austin ably filled the void up front.

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