Brought on at the break with Cherries trailing to Andreas Pereira’s opener, Tavernier restored parity with a beautiful curling effort five minutes into the second period. Dominic Solanke bundled home with what proved to be the winner 11 minutes from time, lifting Cherries to 15th in the Premier League table. A summer signing from Middlesbrough, Leeds-born Tavernier has now scored four goals in his debut Premier League season.
In an interview with BBC Radio Solent,
Marcus Tavernier said: “I knew as soon as the ball came to me that my first thought was to shoot. I know my touch wasn’t the best to start off with, but that was my first intention. As soon as the ball left my foot and watching it go into the back of the net, that was an unbelievable feeling.”
The goal marked the winger’s return from injury, with Tavernier having missed the last four with a hamstring complaint. He had scored in his last appearance, grabbing the only goal in Cherries’ 1-0 win at Wolves, his first start since the World Cup break after recovering from a different hamstring injury.
Marcus Tavernier continued: “I’ve had a tough few months recently, being injured, coming back and getting back on the pitch there, so it’s great. I’ve got to thank the medical team for getting me back again and now I’ve just got to stay fit and help the team stay in this league.”
Hailed as a gamechanger for his goal-scoring appearance off the bench, Tavernier insisted that it had been a team performance that changed Cherries’ fortunes.
Marcus Tavernier added: “It’s about the team. Some players have good individual games, but at the end of the day, it’s about the team. And the team performance in the second half was amazing. I think you’ve seen that with the reaction we gave and the way we pressed and played football. It was great. We got the two goals and then we defended for our lives at the end.”
Asked what was discussed at half-time,
Marcus Tavernier responded: “It was just more of a calmness to us. We know that it wasn’t going in the way we thought it was, but the manager spoke to us about pressing and getting in the faces and I think we did a real good job of that in the second half. We got up against them and caused them to make mistakes and played on the front foot.”
