Solanke Hits Goal Number 30, Billing Nets Twice In Bournemouth’s Victory

Bournemouth of England striker, Dominic Solanke struck his 30th goal of the season in the English Championship on Saturday, while his fellow-Nigerian-born teammate, Philip Anyanwu Billing netted twice.

Megasportsarena.com reports that Solanke and Billing stole all headlines in the encounter that kept The Cherries’ promotion hopes alive, as they romped to a 3-0 win away to Blackburn Rovers.

The victory helped Bournemouth remain tops for automatic promotion, even as chances came for both sides, but The Cherries edged the gulf in quality, which was showcased by the goalscorers.

Leading the way was Solanke, who opened the floodgate in the 21st minute with a composed 12-yard finish and though they had more chances, Reading could not strom back into theame.

Their woes included Jaidon Anthony hitting the woodwork, after which they could still have equalised through Ben Brereton Diaz who struck the post and forced fine saves from Mark Travers.

But Billing settled matters with two emphatic finishes in the space of nine second-half minutes, finding the top corner first and the bottom corner in the 79th minute for his 11th of the campaign.

The Cherries remain second after scoring three on the road for the third consecutive outing and they go into the promotion shootout with Nottingham Forest in fine form.

The result extinguished Blackburn’s faint play-off hopes, with the damage done in a run of 16 games that has yielded 13 points, taking them from second to ninth.

Rovers were unchanged after the resounding Preston win while Scott Parker made two changes and called upon Billing and Jordan Zemura.

Both teams started nervously but The Cherries were quickest into their stride and took the lead in the 21st minute when a raking Nat Phillips pass was cushioned beautifully by the influential Billing into the path of Solanke and he made no mistake, slotting past Thomas Kaminski into the bottom corner.

Travers tipped away a Sam Gallagher header before Brereton Diaz beat the offside trap in the 27th minute but thumped the near post from close range.

More excellent work at the other end from Billing provided a chance for Solanke but his shot deflected into the arms of Kaminski and they went closer still when Anthony’s 20-yard curling effort cannoned off the crossbar.