Solanke cancels out Ladapo double to salvage Bournemouth draw

Dominic Solanke struck a second-half equaliser to cancel out Freddie Ladapo’s double as Bournemouth came back from 2-1 down to salvage a point at Rotherham United.

Junior Stanislas’s 20th-minute penalty had given the Cherries the lead, but goals from Ladapo in the 37th and 50th minutes gave Rotherham the lead early in the second half.

However, ex-Liverpool frontman Solanke netted the equaliser in the 63rd-minute as Bournemouth secured a 2-2 draw that keeps them second in the Championship, one point behind leaders Norwich City.

Despite dropping two points, Rotherham move up to 13 points and remain three above the relegation zone.

Ladapo had been a doubt for the fixture after sustaining a hip injury, but was risked from the start for the Millers and repaid manager Paul Warne’s faith in some style.

There was no place, however, for his fellow Nigerian Chiedozie Ogbene, with the winger still sidelined with injury, although Michael Ihiekwe and Matthew Olosunde did feature for the hosts.

Ladapo, leading the line alongside Michael Smith in Warne’s 3-5-2 formation, built on his recent goalscoring performance at Loftus Road against Queens Park Rangers with a strong showing.

For his first, he met a Joe Mattock cross from the left to slot home past Asmir Begovic from six yards, and could have had another soon afterwards when he was played in by Ihiekwe, only for Adam Smith to deny the forward.

His second was a beauty, as he demonstrated his prowess with his left foot to clip the ball over Begovic from a narrow angle.

Solanke, however, had the last laugh, as he headed home beyond Jamal Blackman from Diego Rico’s cross to ensure the spoils were shared.

The ex-Chelsea attacker could have had a second during the contest’s latter stages—and probably should have secured the victory—when he was played in by Stanislas and found himself one on one with the keeper.

However, Blackman came out on top in this exchange to deny the 23-year-old his sixth goal of the season.

After struggling to make his mark for Bournemouth in the Premier League since signing from Liverpool—Solanke netted just three goals across two seasons with the south-coast club—he already has five in 14 outings in the second tier so far this term, and appears to be thriving in the Championship.