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John Brewin has filed his match report from the ground, so that’s my cue to go and find a piece of cheese. Thanks for your company and correspondence, and I’m sorry not to have got through it all – one minute this game was a stalemate, the next it was 2-2. Do join Scott Murray for the next game in the Premier League, in which another team from the north west turn up on the south coast: Brighton v Liverpool, 12.30pm (GMT) tomorrow. And, for now, do have a look at John’s report. The first word in the headline had to be Maguire.
And here’s Michael Carrick, being less diplomatic than usual. “To give one [of those penalty shouts] and not give the other, it’s crazy,” he says. “I just don’t understand it…. Massive, absolutely massive. That’s what VAR is for. Baffling really.”
Asked about making sure of being third for the next three weeks, he says: “We’re in a good place. We could have had more tonight but we’ll take it and come back stronger… We’ve made a lot of steps, I’m happy with the way things have gone but there’s still room for improvement.”
A philosophical take on the refereeing. “Whatever the merits or otherwise of the decisions tonight,” says David Howell, “seeing a literal two-goal swing from one feels like a great illustration of how, in a sport as low-scoring as this, individual refereeing decisions – often sufficiently subjective as to cause actual professionals to disagree even after seeing all the angles – have an absolutely massive impact.
“I’m instinctively pro-VAR, but I think its existence ultimately shines a spotlight on just how often football matches swing dramatically in ways functionally indistinguishable from luck.”
“Seen worse 4 goal draws,” says Dave Estherby. “Neither team really needs the 3 points as a Champions League/mid-table place await the visitors/hosts respectively.
“Maguire’s an idiot, Tommy T won’t like that one bit. Also, sterling work by Utd to lay on the buses for the fans for the long journey back to London…” Ouch!
Here’s Bruno Fernandes, echoing Cole. “More or less the same situation as the Amad one. I can understand the referee not wanting to give two penalties to the same team, but what I don’t understand is that the VAR doesn’t get involved. He feels those decisions often go “against the small players”.
Asked about the result, he says: “I’m disappointed because we did enough to get that three points… We had to finish the game with a lot of suffering… The frustration is also with ourselves because we could have gone 3-1 up.”
Asked if United have more fighting spirit under Carrick, Fernandes says no, he feels that has always been there. “But with Michael we’ve been in very good form.”
Updated at 18.21 EDT
Now they’re showing Amad’s penalty shout (not given) and the penalty Maguire conceded. “For me,” Andy Cole says, “there is no difference.” Maybe it’s just that Evanilson was more central, closer to the goal.
Sky is replaying the sequence that led to the United penalty. I was a bit harsh on Cunha, who did very well to win it – chesting the ball down, running at Jimenez, bursting between him and another defender, then going down when Jimenez grabbed a piece of his shirt.
United show their Achilles heel again, dropping points on the road, under lights, against a team lower down the table. But they did well to avoid defeat as they played 22 minutes with ten men. They were under the cosh even before Maguire was sent off: the shot count spun round, from 11-4 to United in the first half to 12-3 to Bournemouth in the second and 16-14 to Bournemouth overall. The final score (goals, not shots) could easily have been 4-4 again.
United now have 55 points, which means they’ll remain third over the Easter holidays even if their nearest rivals, Villa, win on Sunday. Bournemouth stay 10th for now, with 42 points, but they will spend the weekend looking over their shoulders at Fulham (41), Brighton and Sunderland (both 40), and even Palace (39).
To see the whole table, click here.
So Bournemouth draw for the fifth game running. At least this one had plenty of goals. The headlines will be grabbed by Harry Maguire: handed an England recall in the morning, handed a red card in the evening.
ShareFULL TIME! Bournemouth 2-2 Man United
It was a game of two halves: half a 0-0, and half a 4-4.
90+10 min They take the free kick short, which I wasn’t expecting. Then they fiddle about a bit, but still win a corner.
90+9 min Free kick to Bournemouth! Wide on the left, 35 yards out.
90+9 min There’s been a hold-up which will push the game past the 100-minute mark. Still time for Bournemouth to nick it.
90+7 min Shaw wins a free kick 40 yards out. Mount, following it up, retrieves the ball and there’s one last chance for Fernandes. His shot is on target but blocked.
Updated at 17.55 EDT
90+6 min United sub: off goes Amad, on comes the lesser-spotted Mason Mount.
90+5 min The next yellow card goes to Sesko, for giving Senesi a shove as a long ball comes their way. This looks being one of those rare games in which Sesko comes on and doesn’t score.
90+5 min A cross reaches Evanilsen, who sends a looping header over the bar.
90+4 min Fernandes and Shaw combine to get United into the final third. Then they fail to combine and Fernandes’ pass goes straight out of play.
90+3 min Mainoo drives through midfield and Smith gets a yellow card for pulling him back.
90+2 min Another calm catch by Lammens. He needs to go long, surely, just to relieve the pressure.
90+1 min This will be the first of NINE minutes of added time. Bournemouth could win it 4-2!
90 min A caption inform us that Junior Kroupi now has nine goals this season, seven more than any other teenager. ANother shot comes in, from Truffert, but Lammens has it covered.
89 min Bournemouth string together about 20 passes. United win the ball back but can’t get out of their left-back zone. A Bournemouth cross is headed away, crucially, by Heaven.
87 min Andoni Iraola makes another sub. Off goes Rayan, on comes Ben Gannon-Doak for a rare outing.
86 min Brooks cruises into the box and takes a shot that is blocked by Yoro – now United’s senior centre-back.
85 min United’s last two visits to Bournemouth have ended in a draw. They’d probably settle for a third.
Updated at 17.42 EDT
84 min Casemiro went off too, to be replaced by Manuel Ugarte. The momentum is with Bournemouth, and so is the ball.
82 min Carrick responds by sending on Ayden Heaven to take Maguire’s place at the back. Heaven has played seven minutes in Carrick’s ten games in charge. And the man sacrificed is Cunha! That’s a surprise.
ShareGOAL! Bournemouth 2-2 Man United (Kroupi pen 80)
There it is! Yet another equaliser. Kroupi goes left, Lammens goes the other way.
Eli Junior Kroupi. Photograph: Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 17.45 EDT
Penalty and red card! Harry Maguire sent off
Maguire’s red-letter day has just gone horribly wrong. He put a hand on Evanilson’s chest. It’s soft, and he’s saying so in no uncertain terms, but he’ll have to go.
Harry Maguire is shown the red card. Photograph: James Marsh/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 18.02 EDT
77 min This is Bournemouth’s highest-scoring game since 10 February, when they won 2-1 at Everton. And they look as if they can smell their next equaliser.
75 min Shot! Scott hits a screamer onto the bar, it rebounds onto Lammen’s back and somehow doesn’t end up in the net.
73 min Subs! For Bournemouth – Brooks and Smith replace Adli and Jimenez.
ShareGOAL!! Bournemouth 1-2 Man United (Hill OG 71)
How do you celebrate an England recall at 33? If you’re Harry Maguire, by forcing an error at the back post which restores your team’s lead. The error was Senesi’s I think – nothing poor Hill could do about it.
Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 17.41 EDT
70 min United go searching for their lost lead and Cunha wins a corner.
On the bench, it’s Sesko time! On comes United’s supersub and off comes Mbeumo, who’s been looking weary for the past month.