A fantastic strike from Callum Hudson-Odoi earned struggling Nottingham Forest a welcome point in a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday.
The former Chelsea forward scored with a curling shot from outside the box following a well-drilled Forest free-kick routine in first-half stoppage time to draw his side level after they fell behind to an early Bournemouth goal.
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Bournemouth started brightly, taking the lead from a Lloyd Kelly corner in the fifth minute, with Justin Kluivert firing the hosts in front from point-blank range after latching on to Luis Sinisterra‘s knock on.
Forest served the first notice of their attacking intentions five minutes after falling behind, when Taiwo Awoniyi was played through by Morgan Gibbs-White, but the striker shot straight at Neto in the Bournemouth goal.
The visitors grew into the match as the half wore on, with Ryan Yates shooting tamely straight at Neto from close range in the 24th minute after being picked out by Murillo following a deep free kick that sparked panic in the Bournemouth defence.
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Bournemouth did not learn from that scare and Hudson-Odoi’s goal in the 45th minute came from a free kick in a similar position, with a ball swung in from right to left causing mayhem in the hosts’ back line once again.
Hudson-Odoi latched on to the loose ball just outside the Bournemouth area and cut in on his right foot before unleashing an unstoppable shot that curled inside the far post.
“I feel I’m getting more and more confident,” the 23-year-old told Sky Sports after his second league goal of the season.
“Obviously I want to be getting more goals for the team. That’s my aim for the rest of the season. We came to get the three points. We’ll take the point and hopefully in the next league game we can get three points.”
The second half was a scrappy affair, broken up by a series of niggling fouls, with neither side able to get the upper hand.
Bournemouth were reduced to 10 men in the 84th minute when substitute Philip Billing was shown a straight red card for a nasty foul on Hudson-Odoi, but Forest could not make their numerical advantage count late in the game.
The point moved Forest up a place to 16th in the table on 21 points, above Luton Town, while Bournemouth climbed above Fulham into 12th.