Howe hails Boruc after penalty heroics

Artur Boruc earned praise from AFC Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe after saving a penalty in their 1-1 draw with West Brom.

Despite his poor clearance leading to Albion's opener at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, Boruc bounced back to deny Craig Gardner from the spot before the break and make a sharp reflex stop to keep the rebound out.

The Polish goalkeeper had to be on hand again in the second half as Howe's side earned themselves a point thanks to Matt Ritchie's 82nd-minute strike.

While Ritchie earned a lot of the plaudits for his late intervention, Howe was quick to praise his number one for keeping his side in the game when Albion were dominating.

"At 1-0 [down] Artur made a great save [from the penalty]," Howe told the club's official website.

"He's an outstanding goalkeeping and saved a penalty against Leicester too earlier in the season which earned us a big point. 

"Two nil might've been a bridge too far so I'm pleased for him."

Bournemouth lacked creativity for large parts of their final home game of the campaign, so Howe was delighted to see their late pressure pay off.

He added: "We're very relieved not to lose and that was important for us today.

"West Brom are so tough to score against let alone to create chances against and to find ourselves 1-0 down was a big problem.

"I thought we were too slow in the first-half, but it got better in the second. I've never seen Matt Ritchie score a header in training, let alone a game. It was a collector's item!"