It was a numbing stay of execution as Aston Villa’s relegation was deferred for at least 24 hours because their eighth consecutive defeat was accompanied by the cold comfort of defeat for their rivals Norwich City at Crystal Palace.

Bournemouth’s deserved victory, secured by goals from Steve Cook and Joshua King, took them to 41 points and their own safety. But Villa’s long membership of the top flight, stretching back to 1987, will be over on Sunday should Sunderland, who host Norwich next week, beat Leicester City. But it is more a case of timing rather than plausibility anyway.

There is a strong sense at Villa Park that things will get worse before they get better. Supporters booed the names of their own players when the teams were read out before kick-off – except for Jordan Lyden, the academy graduate making his full Premier League debut – and again at half-time after Villa conceded the opening goal with the penultimate kick of the half.

Bournemouth have epitomised what a strong team bond allied to purposeful management can bring even for a lesser group of players. In their first season among the elite, Eddie Howe’s players, having lost to Villa on the opening day of term, have long since staved off any realistic threat of relegation, despite losing their last two games.

Eric Black, Villa’s third manager of the season, has urged the players to start giving something back to the 31,000 supporters who keep turning up for home games. The caretaker was not critical of their efforts but pinpointed a deficiency in quality at both ends.

“We have to be professional to the end,” Black said. “We’ve got some difficult games left against some of the best teams in the world. We have to be professional and I’ll have to constantly demand that. It’s not a great state of affairs and there’s a lot of disappointment in the dressing room. But we have to go again Monday morning and get something back into this wonderful club.”

Neither did Black expect supporters to lay off their criticism. “I can fully understand them,” he said. “We’ve won 18 or 19 games at home out of 80, that’s four and a half games a season, so that’s not going to get the fans jumping up and down with confidence. Fans have every right to voice their feelings and I must admit if I was one of them, I don’t think I’d be jumping up and down. I think the time has come for the club to give something back to the fans now.

“This club will I’m sure one day come back but it’s going to be a mighty challenge. I went down with Birmingham City and we came straight back up but my goodness it is huge turnaround.

“It’s not going to be an overnight fix. There’s a lot of hard work to be done but we’ve got to give the fans something to get excited about.”

Villa set up cautiously, which was understandable after conceding 15 goals in their previous four home games. Kieran Richardson, one of five changes from last week’s 4-0 humbling by Chelsea, blasted a shot over from the edge of the area after Idrissa Gueye ran on to Jordan Ayew’s ball wide but Villa were edgy in possession, aware that the home crowd would not take much to turn on them.

Sure enough, Villa were jeered off at the interval after conceding two minutes into stoppage time. Simon Francis played a short corner to Matt Ritchie and ran on to the backheel to the byline whence he pulled the ball back for his fellow defender Steve Cook to replicate the kind of finish Jamie Vardy mustered for England against Germany recently with a flick of his right heel behind the left.

Villa’s demoralised players were taunted with the accusation “You’re not fit to wear the shirt” as they left the field. Lyden was withdrawn from further trauma at the interval and replaced by Rudy Gestede, who had scored the winner at the Vitality Stadium back in August, as Black resorted to 4-4-2. The Benin target man was one of 12 summer signings made in a £52m attempt to replace the departing talent of Fabian Delph, Christian Benteke, Ron Vlaar and Tom Cleverley, a quartet who had helped Tim Sherwood lead the team to safety and an FA Cup final. But, like so many of the newcomers, Gestede has flitted in and out as Sherwood then Rémi Garde and now Black have attempted to put together a jigsaw that makes a coherent picture.

Villa’s latest defeat was in effect sealed 16 minutes from time, when King capitalised on Ciaran Clark’s poor touch and dinked the ball over Brad Guzan. Ayew latched on to Gueye’s pass five minutes from time to score for Villa but Bournemouth were already celebrating. A good day for the visitors was made better when Callum Wilson returned from seven months out with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury. “That was a big moment for everyone connected with the football club,” Howe said. “Callum’s been such a pivotal figure for us.”

“We’re Premier League,” sang the travelling fans. It may be a long time before Villa supporters can make such a claim again.