Antoine Semenyo has scored twice as Bournemouth produced a stunning second-half Premier League display to beat Luton Town 4-3.
On an evening that saw Tom Lockyer return to the Vitality Stadium to thank the medical staff who had helped to save his life 88 days earlier, when this fixture was abandoned after the Luton captain suffered a cardiac arrest, the hosts’ rousing response put a huge dent in the Hatters’ survival hopes.
Luton raced into a three-goal lead at halftime before a dramatic showing from Andoni Iraola’s side.
The visitors opened the scoring in the ninth minute after Jordan Clark stood up a sumptuous cross for Tahith Chong to head in at the far post.
Iraola’s side had gone two goals behind against bottom club Sheffield United at the weekend before fighting back to earn a point in added time.
They found themselves in a similar position when an Alfie Doughty low cross to Chiedozie Ogbene was finished off for a brilliant second after 31 minutes.
Rob Edwards must surely have thought his team had sealed their third away win of the season when Issa Kabore drove upfield to pick out the excellent Ross Barkley, who powerfully fired the ball high into the net to give the Hatters a considerable cushion going into the break.
But after making two substitutions during the interval, Bournemouth hit back dramatically, scoring three times in 14 minutes at the start of the second half.
The first was a stunning piece of individual brilliance from top-scorer Dominic Solanke. The Cherries striker back-heeled the ball between the legs of Daiki Hashioka before chipping it beyond Thomas Kaminski.
The second came after Luton were unable to clear Lewis Cook’s corner to safety and Illia Zabarnyi headed in from close range despite Doughty’s desperate attempts to prevent it crossing the line.
Two minutes later, Semenyo cut in from the right and fired his shot powerfully into the near post to level the scores.
The hosts were not done there and claimed all three points when Semenyo scored his second seven minutes from time, collecting the ball from Enes Unal before shooting powerfully across Kaminski to give the Cherries their first home win since Boxing Day.
Source Agencies
