Howe welcomes end of Bournemouth road woes

Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe was relieved to end a run of nine consecutive away defeats in the Premier League with a 2-0 victory over Huddersfield Town.

Callum Wilson marked his return from a knee injury with a 20th-minute opener in front of watching England manager Gareth Southgate.

Ryan Fraser was the provider on that occasion and it was roles reversed midway through the second half as Wilson set up the Scotland winger for a simple finish.

"We needed it for a whole host of reasons," said Howe. "It was a really big game for us. A big performance from the players.

"I thought there were some really good individual performances and from the team as a whole."

None more so in Howe's eyes than Bournemouth's front two of Wilson and Josh King, with the latter unable to convert a pair of late chances and claim the goal his endeavours deserved.

"Callum was excellent, as Josh King was. Our front two were a real problem for Huddersfield," said Howe.

"It's testament to Callum that he was able to play 90 minutes on his comeback.

"The first goal was a very incisive attack, lots of quality in it. There were lots of other moments when we could have scored."

Fraser revealed he had been pestering Wilson during his recovery, eager to reignite their on-field alliance.

9 - Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser have combined for nine Premier League goals this season, more than any other duo in the competition. Synergy. pic.twitter.com/qb3Jgx1wIg

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 9, 2019

He said: "I was asking him all the time, 'When are you back?' three weeks; 'When are you back?' two weeks…

"When you play with a player of that talent, it shows how big a miss it is to our team when he's not around."

Wilson now has seven goals in six league outings against Huddersfield and was glad to hit the ground running on his return.

"As a striker, when you've been out for a little bit, you want to come back and make an impact on the team," he said.

"Hopefully I did that with a goal and an assist and we're back to winning games away from home."