Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium hosted a thrilling Premier League contest on Saturday, as the Cherries fell to a 1-2 defeat after a chaotic conclusion to their match against Brentford.
Bryan Mbuemo had handed the visitors the lead with four minutes of regulation time remaining, before it appeared that Dominic Solanke had restored parity and clawed back a point for Bournemouth in the 89th minute.
Yoane Wissa would have the last laugh though, picking out the back of the net from a tight angle to ensure Thomas Frank’s men head back to the capital on a high.
Embed from Getty ImagesAs it happened
While proceedings truly ramped up in the final ten minutes at the Vitality Stadium, this match was not short of action from the outset.
VAR was forced to intervene just before the half-hour mark, with Dominic Solanke’s apparent opener ultimately chalked off by referee Matt Donohue.
Forced to carry out a pitchside review in his first match as a Premier League referee, he found that the ball struck the arm of Antoine Semenyo in the build-up – meaning that Solanke’s euphoric celebrations were in vain.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe technology would be called upon again as the match neared its conclusion, with Donohue returning to the pitchside monitor to review a potential penalty appeal. Having initially penalised Illia Zabarnyi for an apparent shove on Ivan Toney, the referee went on to overturn his decision.
But Brentford were able to take the lead shortly after, with Bryan Mbuemo’s opener coming as Yoane Wissa latched onto Mark Flekken’s clearance before teeing up his strike partner.
The favour would be reciprocated nine minutes later, but not before Solanke had momentarily levelled the clash as he nodded a Marcos Senesi delivery past Mark Travers.
The result condemns Brentford to a bottom-half finish in the Premier League.
The lineups
BOU: Travers; Kelly, Senesi, Zabarnyi, Smith; Cook, Christie; Ouattara, Kluivert, Semenyo; Solanke
BRE: Flekken; Reguilon, Pinnock, Collins, Ajer; Janelt, Nørgaard, Damsgaard; Lewis-Potter, Toney, Mbuemo