Longstaff’s late show moves Leeds closer to safety in dramatic draw at Bournemouth

The remainder of Bournemouth’s season is Andoni Iraola’s farewell parade and this was another vital point as they edge towards what could be an extraordinary achievement.

Billionaire Bill Foley has held ambitions to take this little club on the south coast to Europe since he took over in 2022 and Iraola has made what seemed a fanciful dream a distinct possibility as he prepares to hand over the reins to Marco Rose. But they are not there yet.

Six minutes into stoppage time they had the lead for three points to move sixth in the table, only for Leeds United’s Sean Longstaff to hit a sweet volley through a wall of bodies to share a point each.

The difficulty of a manager announcing they will leave before the end of the season can be a drop in focus and motivation, but Bournemouth showed there remains plenty of fight as they came through a difficult evening against an in-form Leeds side enjoying a memorable season of their own, almost certain of staying up and with an FA Cup semi-final on Sunday.

The first-half stalemate was perhaps to be expected from a game between a Bournemouth side unbeaten in six home games and a visiting Leeds team unbeaten in five games on the road – their longest unbeaten away run in 25 years.

There was a hint of nervous tension to the match, too. Both sides still have plenty to play for. Bournemouth have never played in Europe and to qualify this season – after years of selling star after star – would be momentous, and a fitting sign-off for departing manager Andoni Iraola.

They can still remember vividly here how close they were to dropping out of the Football League in 2009 – a video of the goal Steven Fletcher scored to keep them in League Two was played on the big screens before kick-off and the striker was given a standing ovation when he was invited onto the pitch.

Still, for all the talk of how well Bournemouth have played under Iraola – and he has quite rightly drawn praise for his easy-on-the-eye style – most of their threatening moments in the first half came from the long throws of defender James Hill. Four times the centre-back jogged across to the touchline to hurl the ball into the six-yard box.

Karl Darlow, the Leeds goalkeeper, struggled to deal with them, and when one was only partially cleared, the ball was nodded back over the Leeds defence and Evanilson came close with an acrobatic volley.

Junior Kroupi gives Bournemouth a second-half lead from close range. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images