David Moyes shared his disappointment as Joshua King’s late strike ended Sunderland’s 10 year stay in the Premier League.
King, who had looked lively throughout, was unfortunate not to break the deadlock in the opening exchanges as the bar and post denied his audacious lob over Jordan Pickford.
Sunderland fought their way back but came up against a resilient Polish stopper in Artur Boruc, who produced two fine stops to firstly bat away Fabio Borini’s venomous driven and then stand tall to deny Jermain Defoe as he latched onto Didier Ndong’s looping header.
Wahbi Khazri and George Honeyman went close after the restart, with Borini also testing Boruc as he bore down on goal.
But as the game began to open up in the closing stages, King slotted home from close range as Bournemouth caught the Lads on the break, and in doing so ended the Black Cats’ 10 year Premier League stay.
Speaking post-match, Moyes delivered his verdict.
“It is a really sad day for the football club and I’m really sorry for the supporters,” he said.
“We have travelled in great numbers away from home, we have had big home supports and unfortunately we have not been able to get the results which everyone wanted.
“From the start of the season when we went to Manchester City their winning goal came two minutes from the end, we then had a terrible start to the season and struggled to win a game.
“In this final part of the season we have played much better and we played well today.
“But nobody is going to talk about the performance. I thought we played well against West Ham and Middlesbrough in midweek but we have not turned our opportunities into goals.
“The players were great today, we had nine out and I have praised the ones who played because it was never going to be an easy day for the players,” he continued.
“We had to stand up and I think the ones who played showed fight and were committed."
