Manager Scott Parker hailed Jamal Lowe after the winger rounded off his perfect week by grabbing the late winner as Bournemouth beat Stoke 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium.
Lowe celebrated the birth of his third child, son Ziggy, on Thursday before crashing in an 89th-minute clincher to keep up the Cherries’ promotion push.
Tommy Smith’s 20th-minute drilled effort had put Stoke ahead before Morgan Fox was dismissed for a lunge on Philip Billing which forced the visitors to play with 10 men for an hour.
Bournemouth appeared to have run out of ideas before Dominic Solanke’s 20th Championship goal of the season and Lowe’s strike turned things around in the last seven minutes.
Lowe was out of the Bournemouth squad a month ago and Parker said: “It has been a big week for Jamal after his wife gave birth on Thursday.
“He has rounded off that week and there is no better feeling than scoring a winner.
“Three weeks ago Jamal was training on his own as he wasn’t in the squad but fair play to his resilience. He has shown his character and shows how quickly things can change for personnel.”
After a dismal first-half performance, where they failed to record a shot on target, Bournemouth came to life after the break.
Todd Cantwell forced a top save out of Jack Bonham before Billing scooped over from six yards and cracked the bar with a header.
The Vitality Stadium grew frustrated with audible boos at the game seemingly fizzling out before the late heroics from Solanke and Lowe.
Parker, whose side are second in the Championship table with games in hand, added: “I was proud of the second-half performance. The lads showed big character.
“There was a sense in the stadium which probably transpired onto the players and moved us away from how we win games but second half we were much better.
“I understand the frustrations in the stadium. It is my job to generate the positive from the stadium. We can’t let the edginess affect us.
“You don’t want it to be as late as that but I’m pleased with the two goals.
“My belief will never ever wane. I know that football matches can change very quickly and I know the character of my players – they have belief no matter what.
“The players can now start believing in themselves, that wasn’t luck. It is culture and a togetherness.”
Stoke manager Michael O’Neill felt aggrieved at the refereeing display from Tim Robinson.
Fox’s red card, where he had overrun the ball and collided with Billing, was the start of his anger – with a similar tackle from Cherries full-back Jordan Zemura on Jacob Brown unpunished.
O’Neill said: “We were the better team until the red card, there is no doubt about that.
“We were terrific for how we played for 60 minutes with 10 men. We thought we had weathered the storm.
“It is never a red card and if it is a red card then Zemura’s tackle on Brown is a red card, they are exactly the same challenge. One’s a red card and one’s a throw in – how’d you work that out?
“We had got them into a period where they ran out of ideas but then they overloaded us in the wide areas and eventually a combination of fatigue and concentration made us concede two goals.
“The ref couldn’t wait to get the red card out. Morgan has overrun the ball a little bit but it isn’t even really a tackle.
“Billing kind of steps out of the tackle and Morgan has played the ball with his instep and because of that his foot is slightly raised. He can’t stop at that point after touching the ball.
“Most weeks I think that type of challenge would have gone unnoticed. I’m at a loss how we had a player sent off and often things go unpunished against us.”
