Bournemouth 1-1 Nottingham Forest: Sub Sam Surridge hits late to cancel out Jaidon Anthony’s opener

Unchained Dango helped timid Bournemouth put a stop to the rot after six straight defeats, but it was old Sam Surridge who cost them a priceless victory.

Burkina Faso international Dango Ouattara, signed on Thursday for £20m from French club Lorient, was electric on his debut for the Cherries, where he seems to fit in perfectly despite barely speaking a word of English.

Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil joked in the buildup about having to speak to the 20-year-old in vulgar French. But Outtara, who is on his first visit to this country, certainly speaks the right language on the field.

Dango Ouattara shone for the hosts on his Bournemouth debut during the 1-1 draw

Nottingham Forest substitute Sam Surridge scored a late goal against his former club

He created the home team’s first goal in five league games, which was hidden by Jaidon Anthony, and looked like a bargain after the Cherries beat top-tier competition to sign him.

But Forest did pull off an equalizer in the closing stages as Surridge came off the bench to nail the equalizer against the club where he started his career, though his goal only stood up after the strictest possible VAR reviews.

Surridge spent six years with the Cherries before leaving to join Forest last January, and their equalizer was his first Premier League goal for the club.

There were certainly plenty of new faces everywhere at the Vitality Stadium, and an old one in the crowd when former Bournemouth boss Harry Redknapp paid a visit to his old team.

Forest had a new signing in the starting eleven in Chris Wood, and two more on the bench with Danilo and Gustavo Scarpa.

Wood helped Newcastle avoid relegation last season and was nearly put in at the start by Serge Aurier after a strong run and a low cross that was barely passed.

Aurier, in fact, was the man in danger early, picking up Morgan Gibbs-White moments later for a shot that Bournemouth keeper Neto did well to save.

But the local team also threatened when a new signing of theirs was close. On his debut, winger Outtara moved away from his marker before running into a pinpoint return pass from Ryan Christie and forced Wayne Hennessy to a leg stop.

Jaidon Anthony opened the scoring for Bournemouth by dispatching Ouattara’s ball home

Jaidon Anthony also watched a wildly wide shot narrowly deflected as the struggling Cherries slowly grew into the game.

But they got a lucky break when Ryan Yates headed Wily Boly in from a Grubbs-White corner only to have Paul Tierney VAR rule it out as Boly was offside.

Forest had put some light between them and the bottom three before this game and played the ball with speed and purpose, understandably looking like a team suddenly brimming with confidence.

That has been in short supply at Bournemouth since Gary O’Neil was appointed permanently, and his side have gone goalless in four of their six league defeats since then.

Gary O’Neil’s side have lacked confidence in recent games, but they led for most of this

They had a glorious chance to get on the scoreboard when Kieffer Moore slipped in for a free header from 12-yards, but the Welsh striker shot just over the crossbar before looking to the sky in anguish.

It was a moment of magic from Outtara that broke the deadlock as he skinned Renan Lodi for pace down the right and slipped in the perfect pass to Anthony, who took a touch before producing an emphatic, icy finish.

The jokesters of the home fans responded to this little surprise by singing wryly: ‘We’ve scored a goal!’

It had certainly been a long time coming, and it meant the Cherries avoided equaling an unwanted club record of going five league games in a row without scoring, set in 1975.

On his debut, Ouattara set up Anthony for his first league goal since 12 November.

It was also Anthony’s first league goal since he netted it in a 3-0 win over Everton on 12 November, just before Bournemouth began their terrible run.

And it seemed to bring them to life, with Jordan Zemura having a shot blocked on the line by Forest captain Joe Worrall, who thumped his chest and roared like a bare-chested barbarian ready to go to war.

If he lifted his side, they had a funny way of showing it, as it was Bournemouth who played with a spring in their step, and should have gone further when Christie headed home from Zemura’s glorious cross wide.

Both sides traded blows in the second half without threatening to break through, until Brennan Johnson forced a save from Neto in the 71st minute.

Ouattara then shot over the top twice from decent positions, before Bournemouth were slowly forced into a rear-guard action, ending up conceding a late bad as substitute Surridge slipped in to score Johnson’s cross.

Surridge appeared to be offside to the naked eye, but after the strictest of VAR calls, the goal was given and Forest escaped the south coast with another potentially priceless point.