AFC Bournemouth hosted Manchester City on Sunday in the final game to be played during the FA Cup Quarter-Final stage. The FA Cup Semi-Final draw had already been made, with the winners set to face Nottingham Forest at Wembley.
The Cherries had only reached this stage of the oldest club competition in the world twice before, with the Dean Court faithful dreaming of a date or even two at Wembley… but it wasn’t to be as Manchester City sought their revenge for their league defeat at Dean Court back in November.
Written by billythekid
Cup Quarter Finals weekend, and basically all the games have been poor.
Our game today, AFCB 5 shots, 2 on target, Manchester City 17 shots, 7 on target.
Erling Haaland missed two good opportunities to put City in the lead in the first half, first was a save or miss, depending how you view his penalty.
Then chipped Kepa, only for the ball to go over the bar.
But it was Evanilson from a Justin Kluivert assist that gave the Cherries the lead and that was the score at halftime.
The substitution at the beginning of the second half by City bringing on 20-year-old Nico O’Reilly made a difference and his two assists, first for Haaland and then Omar Marmoush for the equalising and winning goals.
Attendance 10,954, our second lowest attendance this season.
Surprisingly as when I arrived at the ground around ten to four, the queues for the MS near the shop were right behind the programme sales queue.
Which is the lot further away from the club shop than on normal league games when I get there 30 minutes before the game.
Man of the Match against Man City (FA Cup)
Kepa
Kepa
Vote
Evanilson
Evanilson
Vote
Senesi
Senesi
Vote
Kluivert
Kluivert
Vote
Someone else
Someone else
Vote
The boss speaks after we bow out of the FA Cup. pic.twitter.com/OBkRA5McTo
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) March 30, 2025
NWCherries98
Feels like the season is fizzling out a bit. Not sure we’re going to get many better chances to get to Wembley and even win the whole thing.
City were poor in the first half, and we had more energy and matched them easily. Having said that, we rode our luck with some poor misses from Haaland.
Second half…deary me. I know they’re good, but tactically, application-wise, quality on the ball, drive…all vanished. We felt completely bereft of ideas. They may well just be tired, but I don’t think we’ve put in any really good performances for a while now.
AFCBmattjamr
Played so well in the first half. Battled like lions and had city scared. I actually was believing.
What actually happened in the second half? It was like a different side absolutely no fight or idea, just lumping long balls to no one.
AFCB_Liam
We needed heavy metal football in that 2nd half and we got Lighthouse Family. So many players were off their game for one of our biggest-ever halves.
City thoroughly deserved the win and looked a few levels above us.
The contrast in our form and fortunes with Forest since we beat them 5-0 at home has been crazy. They’re now favourites for CL football and are in an FA Cup semi-final, whereas if we continue this form, we’ll struggle for top half.
No lack of effort, just a massive lack of quality today. Let’s hope we can bounce back for Ipswich and a strong run in! – To join the conversation, please click here.
Our FA Cup run ends today, but a huge thank you for your support 👏
You’ve backed us in every round and we’ll need you with us for the remainder of this exciting season.
See you Wednesday, Cherries 🍒 pic.twitter.com/Xk6I75xmzX
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) March 30, 2025