Luton’s hopes of avoiding relegation suffered a crushing blow when they somehow turned a 3-0 lead into a 4-3 defeat in one of the most incredible Premier League games this season.
The result leaves Luton still three points adrift of Nottingham Forest who they host on Saturday at Kenilworth Road – a clash neither side can afford to lose.
It had all started so well for Luton when, after just nine minutes, Tahith Chong headed in at the far post following a precision cross from Jordan Clark.
They went two up with a rapid and well-executed counter attack in which Chong and Alfie Doughty combined to set up Cihedozie Ogbene to score at the far post.
Luton were cohesive and fluid with manager Rob Edwards cleverly deploying Chong and Ogbene in the gaps between defence and midfield.
The away end could hardly believe what they were watching as the excellent Ross Barkley smashed a third into the roof of the net after Issa Kaboré had driven forward and picked out his run.
Andoni Iraola made a double substitution at half-time and Bournemouth’s response was immediate. Dominic Solanke scored with a wonderful back-heel through the legs of Daiki Hashioka before chipping over Thomas Kaminski.
Their second was more prosaic as Ilia Zabarnyi forced his header over the line after Lewis Cook’s corner, despite Doughty’s valiant attempts to keep it out.
And two minutes later the turnaround was complete when Antoine Semenyo cut in from the right-hand side and drilled a shot into the near corner of Kaminski’s goal.
Seven minutes from time the narrative was complete when the excellent Semenyo scored his second goal of the game, this time shooting across Kaminski after being played in by Enes Unal.
The nature of this defeat may prove difficult to come back from for Edwards’ players, who had been lifted before kick-off by the appearance of captain Tom Lockyer returning to the ground where he suffered a cardiac arrest on Dec 16 – the match was abandoned and was finally replayed on Wednesday night.
Ahead of kick-off, Lockyer shook hands with the medical response team who saved his life that day and took in the applause from all sides of the stadium, who sang his name in unison.
