Mainz Win 2-1 In Marco Rose's First Loss As AFC Bournemouth Head Coach

Bournemouth today ended their pre-season campaign with a 2-1 loss against Mainz, at a sweltering Mewa Arena, where temperatures were hitting 37°C.

The sides were heading into their final pre-season friendly in strong form with both unbeaten as they looked to fine-tune their preparations for their respective campaigns.

Mainz, managed by Urs Fischer, have so far enjoyed early wins over lower-league opposition, beating Kaiserslautern 4-1, Holstein Kiel 3-0 and Shabab Al-Ahli 1-0, whilst drawing 3-3 with Udinese. They also most recently dismantled Paris FC 4-0 - building on their confidence of a solid 10th-place Bundesliga finish last season.

Cherries, sporting their third kit, which was launched earlier this week, began with Petrovic in goal, and a defence of Smith, Hill, Silva, and Truffert. The midfield saw Lewis Cook reverting back to a familiar position alongside Alex Toth, with Marcus Tavernier and Rayan out wide, and Justin Kluivert sitting just behind Evanilson up top.

Mainz is not unfamiliar territory for Bournemouth gaffer Marco Rose, who played nearly 200 games for them between 2002 and 2011, plus he has visited the Mewa Arena on several occasions as boss of RB Leipzig, Dortmund and Mönchengladbach. However on this occasion, his awareness of Die Nullfünfer initially did not prove to be an advantage, with Bournemouth going 1-0 down before the first hydration break.

The match, which was 90 minutes, as opposed to the 120 minute tussle that saw Cherries demolish Genoa, saw Bournemouth make a few early inroads, with some nice build play and a few glimpses at goal.

Marcus Tavernier was the first to test the hosts, flashing a shot wide after some great individual play, and then Evanilson saw a header scrambled away, glancing an effort goal-bound from a corner.

Rayan was also proving to be a menace with some excellent pressing offering him a couple of half chances, but despite looking more likely, it was the home side who took their chance, with a counter attack straight from a Cherries corner on 14 minutes.

With Bournemouth committing nearly everyone forward, goalkeeper Robin Zentner claimed the ball, to then bowl the ball out to Sheraldo Becker - who had the pitch in front of him, but despite the best efforts of Adam Smith and Alex Toth in getting back, the Dutch-Surinamese icon finished well past Petrovic, giving Mainz the lead.

There were more chances to come for the hosts with Nadiem Amiri un the thick of the action, with a snapshot safely gathered by Petrovic, followed by a glanced header which went wide.

After the hydration break, Cherries seemed to up the tempo, with Brazilian star-boy Rayan nodding a Tavernier cross just wide, before then running through on goal after being slipped through by Evanilson - but as he met Zentner who raced out of his goal, his calmly placed shot from 30 yards could only hit the post.

It wasn't long before Boscombe equalised though, and on 39 minutes - new signing Antonio Silva weighted an exquisite ball through to Evanilson who dinked the keeper to make it 1-1 - a sublime moment, with Portuguese signing revealing just why he was chosen as the replacement for Marcos Senesi.

The second 45 started with Cherries making one change - Before Diakite deputising for James Hill.

Mainz had two decent efforts early on, with Phillip Tietz pulling a shot just wide via a deflection before then flicking a header towards goal from the resulting corner, although Petrovic remained untested.

On 52 minutes, Justin Kluivert saw a first effort on goal, being played the ball after some good pressure from Evanilson and Lewis Cook gave him a chance from the edge of the box, however his shot was dragged just wide.

This moment seemed to spark the Cherries into life with Tavernier combining well with Evanilson resulting in a low right footed strike on goal from Cherries' number 16, however it was comfortably saved by the Mainz goalkeeper.

Kluivert was starting to have more of an impact as the game went on, running on to his own flick on 56 minutes before travelling the distance of the opposition half before firing a right footed shot just wide of the target - an excellent self-made moment that possibly deserved a better result.

On 60 minutes, Mainz made a raft of changes, with nine players being introduced, and the freshness nearly paid instant dividends after a cross from the left was set to be nodded home by an onrushing forward, but for a late flick by Bafode Diakite to keep the ball away from danger.

After a brief downpour provided all players with some needed respite from the sunshine, the second hydration break came, allowing Cherries to make some further substitutions - with Ben Gannon-Doak coming on for Rayan, and Evanilson making way for the eager Daniel Jebbison.

Whilst both introductions looked lively, it was the home side that produced the next effort, with a break down the right resulting in a ball pulled back from the byline, which was flashed wide from close range via a deflection.

However, from the subsequent corner, Mainz found the net, after the ball was half cleared, and whilst Daniel Jebbison tried to rush William Böving into losing the ball, the forward sidestepped before rifling a low shot into the corner of the net past the diving Petrovic.

Towards the end of the game, Charlie Stevens and Remy Rees-Dottin came on for Antonio Silva and Justin Kluivert to get some more first team minutes - not before Tavernier found some space down the left, firing in a first time inswinger onto the head of Ben Gannon-Doak, however his header could only go wide.

Whilst Mainz spurned a late chance into the side netting, the miss did not prove costly, as the home side ran out 2-1 winners - leaving Marco Rose with his first loss at Cherries manager.