Summer signing Tavernier was the match-winner at Molineux, the winger converting from Dominic Solanke’s cross. It was the 23-year-old’s first start since November, with Tavernier missing eight fixtures following a hamstring injury. Lerma came off at the break, with O’Neil revealing that the Colombian had fallen ill prior to the game. Unable to continue for the remaining 45 minutes, Lerma was replaced with Joe Rothwell. O’Neil explained to the Daily Echo: “Jeff was ill very close to kick off, so it was a bit late to change him from the starting XI.
Gary O Neil said: “But he wasn’t feeling very well so we knew we might have to change him. At half time he was struggling, so we have to change.”
There were fears that when Tavernier went down injured that he had suffered a reoccurrence of his aforementioned hamstring injury. However, O’Neil said that the winger’s issue is not with the same hamstring, also sharing his belief that it was not a serious problem. Cherries had been preparing to take Tavernier off before he went down requiring treatment, with Jaidon Anthony brought on in his stead. Asked about Tavernier,
Gary O’Neil insisted: “No, it’s not a reoccurrence. We were about to take Tavs (Marcus Tavernier) off anyway. I think we were doing Dango (Ouattara) and Tavs together, I think, for Antoine (Semenyo) and Jaidon (Anthony). Then Tavs went down. We’re not sure. It’s the other hamstring, for starters, he thinks there was a contact on it as well from the tackle. So the best news would be that it was just a contact. And even if it wasn’t, he seems to think it just tightened up a little bit. So we’re hopeful that it won’t be anything too serious, but there’ll obviously be checks that need to go in place.”
