Scotland international delivers after being handed rare start in Europa League.
Scotland winger Ben Gannon-Doak has handed Bournemouth boss Marco Rose a selection headline ahead of this weekend’s high-stakes showdown against Sunderland after making a major impression in his first Europa League start for the club against Sturm Graz.
Gannon-Doak, 20, made only his second start for the Cherries since his £25million move from Liverpool last summer on Thursday night, as goals from Evanilson, Rayan and Alvaro Rodriguez sealed a comfortable 3-0 win in their first-ever European home game at the Vitality Stadium.
Ruled out for the bulk of last season with a troublesome hamstring injury he picked up in Scotland's dramatic 4-2 World Cup qualifying win over Denmark, the former Celtic academy talent started for the club in a 4-0 Carabao Cup win over Lincoln City last month, picking up an assist, and was handed another chance to impress in midweek, and was named man of the match.
However, attention returns to domestic action this week with a mammoth home clash against Sunderland. Without a win in their first six league games, head coach Rose has hinted that Gannon-Doak could be handed his first league start for the club as they chase a much-needed three points.
“It was a perfect start," Rose said. "Clean sheet, performance-wise, top first half, not even a shot on goal from Sturm Graz. Scored a nice goal. The effort, the attitude of the lads, the response we were asking for after the Saturday [loss to Chelsea] game was good. I mean, Sturm is normally a high-pressing team. Maybe they changed approach a little bit, but we didn't give them anything in the first half.
"They had one counter-attack, and we needed to be aware always in every situation. They had a big chance to equalise, that's what we have to say. But in general, we defended the quality of them, and they have quality, very well today. And to have a clean sheet was even for me very important.”
Reflecting on his decision to include Gannon-Doak as one of five changes to his starting XI, Rose added: “I did it because I was confident and, and I believe in the lads, and I've always said that we have many players in good shape and we had good weeks of training even in the national break and it shows me that we are competitive, that we have competition in our team, that's what we need.
“We have Justin [Kluivert] back, we have Amine [Adli] back and yeah, everyone did well today. Doaky [Gannon-Doak] came in, played a really good game, Julio [Soler] did it really well on the left side. So everyone today showed that he is an option for me.”
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