Iturralde ran into the night three times \u2013 he went once more when Rayan made it 2-0 after 20 minutes and again when Sergio G\u00f3mez made it 2-1 on 57 \u2013 and might have gone more too. After a superb first half, Bournemouth had to hang on, sometimes desperately, in the second. For a while it had seemed a lead would slip away from their grasp for the fifth time in six games this season, but Djordje Petrovic came to their rescue with two astonishing saves from Orri \u00d3skarsson in the final, dramatic minutes. They had done it, everyone at the final whistle. It had been some battle and they had given everything.<\/p>\n
That resistance hadn\u2019t appeared necessary an hour or so earlier. Bournemouth had waited 127 years for a first European game and considerably less for their first goal. They had been playing 10 minutes and 43 seconds and when it came they celebrated it twice. A lovely shift of the body from Evanilson started it, the Brazilian receiving and releasing Adrien Truffert. The cross was perfectly placed, bent behind the defensive line for Kluivert to score.<\/p>\n
High in the north-east corner Bournemouth\u2019s fans went up but down in the south-west corner the flag did too, it didn\u2019t take the video assistant referee long to prove that was wrong, and allowing them to do it all again while Iturralde set off into the street. Truffert was on the run again soon after, Alex Scott\u2019s glorious long, looped, curling ball dropping into just the right place for Rayan to head the second.<\/p>\n
Justin Kluivert fires Bournemouth into an early lead. Photograph: Robin Jones\/AFC Bournemouth\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
There was an ease about the way Scott had completed the pass \u2013 an almost gentle turn of the ankle, the ball delivered as if by hand \u2013 and about the way he played. Amid the speed and intensity he glided. Around him, teammates flew everywhere, Marcus Tavernier especially, and Real Sociedad could not keep up. Three times they threatened from dead balls too: Evanilson headed the first off the post, Ant\u00f3nio Silva headed the second wide and \u00d3skarsson just about headed away a third. Songs from the corner sung to a backdrop of frustrated whistles from the rest of Anoeta.<\/p>\n
From the home fans there was relief when half-time arrived without the lead being extended. There was also a reaction, a dash from Ander Barrenetxea signalling their intent and an increase in volume. Petrovic made a superb save from Be\u00f1at Turrientes on 56 minutes and almost immediately Real Sociedad pulled one back. G\u00f3mez\u2019s curling cross bent all the way through, past the outstretched legs and into the far corner.<\/p>\n
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