An inspired showing by Max Gradel helped Bournemouth on their way to a 3-2 victory over Swansea City at the Vitality Stadium this afternoon.
The Swans twice battled from behind to rescue what looked to be another valuable point in their fight for survival, but Steve Cook popped up 12 minutes from time to score what proved to be the winner.
Bournemouth's third win on the bounce, and their first ever successive home triumphs in the top flight, moves them up to 13th place - five points above their opponents who still remain in trouble.
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It was the hosts who started the contest in a more settled manner, coming close twice early on through Joshua King, who failed to find his range when picked out in identical positions seven yards out.
Star man Gradel was proving to be a threat for the Cherries, and it was his quick footwork that earned a free kick 11 minutes in, which Andrew Surman sent back off the upright.
Bournemouth very much the side on top in the opening quarter of the match, then, but Swansea felt that they should have had a penalty when the lively Modou Barrow was sent tumbling by Charlie Daniels just inside the box.
Referee Roger East was quick to wave away the faint appeals from visiting supporters, and it nearly proved a pivotal moment soon after when Gradel was picked out by King in a central position up the other end of the field.
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Gradel failed to find the target on this occasion, but his big breakthrough would arrive 37 minutes in when Lukasz Fabianski palmed Adam Smith's cross right into his path, allowing the former Leeds United man to coolly fire into the bottom corner.
It marked the summer signing's first goal in English football since 2011, which also came on the south coast when scoring for Leeds against Southampton.
That followed a quiet spell in the match, yet more drama would arrive a little over a minute later when Barrow cut inside from the right and picked out the bottome corner with a fine individual strike for his first Premier League goal.
Barrow, making just his fourth start of the season, became the first Gambian player to find the net in the English top flight, helping the Swans grab a crucial foothold in the contest in the process.
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The Swans were behind once more just five minutes into the second half, however, when Gradel picked up a loose ball which he had initially lost before sliding in King on the right.
King had the angle somewhat against him, but he was able to blast it low and hard beyond Fabianski who again perhaps should have done better to prevent the goal.
Bournemouth looked to be relatively in control of things as the game entered its final third, yet out of nothing the Welsh outfit had themselves another equaliser.
Barrow was again involved, racing to the byline and pulling the ball back for Sigurdsson to take one touch to steady himself and a second to blast into the back of the net.
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The Icelandic international's seventh goal in 11 league outings set up a really intriguing finale to the evenly-contested showdown on the south coast, and there was more drama to come in the final stages.
Soon after Artur Boruc had kept out an Alberto Paloschi shot-to-nothing, Cook headed home from a corner to give Eddie Howe's men the lead for the third time in the match.
That finally proved to be it in terms of the scoring, ensuring more personal history for Bournemouth in a season to remember at the Vitality Stadium.
Daniel Lewis
