Bournemouth (Reuters)
Luton Town blew a three-goal lead, losing 4-3 to Bournemouth, wasting their chance to escape the relegation zone in the English Premier League.
Things seemed to be in Luton's favor on an emotional night, after Tahith Chong, Chidozie Ogbeni and Ross Barkley took turns scoring three goals in the first half, sealing the team's control of the match.
That result would have lifted Luton Town to 17th place at the expense of Nottingham Forest, but Bournemouth, whose fans booed the players at half-time, completely converted after the end of the break.
Dominic Solanke scored immediately after the end of the break, and the hosts were able to equalize by the 65th minute, thanks to goals by Elia Zbarny and Antoine Simenio.
Luton were reeling, and the feeling in the air seemed to be one of Bournemouth's inevitability of victory, until Simeño scored the winning goal in the 83rd minute.
The match was rescheduled after the original match was called off after 59 minutes last December, when Luton captain Tom Lockyer suffered a heart attack on the pitch.
Lockyer was present and received a standing ovation before kick-off, when he met the paramedics who saved his life.
Luton remained in 18th place, after their score froze at 21 points from 28 matches, falling three points behind Nottingham Forest.
The focus was entirely on Lockyer before kick-off, as he returned to the field on which he almost lost his life.
Lockyer said: “I was completely unaware of the whole matter, but when I returned here, I entered the dressing room tunnel and saw the paramedics who saved my life. I recognized them immediately. What do you say in such situations except thank you? “They are heroes. They saved my life. I felt a little emotional.”
Lockyer, who had a pacemaker installed, stood up to greet Chung after he headed the ball into the goal, eight minutes after the first whistle, from Jordan Clarke's cross.
Chong was again involved in the action in the 31st minute when his clever pass found Alfie Doughty, who passed the ball to Ogbeni, to make it 2-0, and when Barkley put the ball home perfectly just before half-time, Luton looked like they were in dreamland.
Bournemouth scored early in the second half, after the players were subjected to harsh criticism from their coach, Andoni Iraola, to get a lifeline when Solanke raced away from Daiki Hashioka, after skillfully controlling the ball, and put it into the net in a wonderful way.
The crowd began to applaud in the 59th minute to greet Lockyer, but at almost the same moment the referee declared that the ball that Zbarni headed in had crossed the goal line.
Two minutes later, Simenew fired a shot past Luton goalkeeper Tomas Kaminski, ending his team's stunning comeback with another powerful touch as Luton's defense collapsed, and Bournemouth remained in 13th place, having raised its tally to 35 points.
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