Graham Pearcey

Date: 13 March 2024

None of the Bournemouth fans who booed their team off the pitch at half time could have imagined in their wildest dreams that an hour later they’d be celebrating one of our greatest victories ever.

The run-up to the game was dominated by talk of Tom Lockyer, the Luton captain whose heart attack had resulted in the previous match between these two sides being abandoned. Lockyer was featured instead of a Bournemouth player in the matchday programme; half time draw tickets were being sold in aid of the British Heart Foundation; and a minute’s applause was scheduled for 59 minutes to celebrate the work of medical staff who’d assisted Lockyer back in December. (Sadly the minute’s applause ended up being somewhat muted because of exciting things occurring on the pitch at the time!)

As previously mentioned, our first half performance led to some booing at 45 minutes, and deservedly so. There was some poor play; perhaps especially from Christie but not only him. Luton scored with a free header on 9 minutes; Ogbene followed up with a second goal on 31 minutes; and the veteran Ross Barkley beat Neto just before half time to bring the score to 0-3. Although we’d come back from a 0-2 deficit against Sheffield United to draw that game, and come back from 0-2 against QPR to win, this was a three goal deficit – surely insurmountable? I was tempted to head straight home at half time. (I wonder whether anyone did?)

By later that night, let alone the following morning, the whole football world would be talking about our historic second half comeback. First Solanke beat off three players to turn, shoot and score on 50 minutes. To be honest, Mepham looked offside, and we had to endure a lengthy VAR check, but – hurrah - the goal stood! Then Zabarnyi scored off a Cook corner. As with one of Saturday’s goals, play continued briefly until the referee’s watch confirmed that the ball had crossed the line. 2-3.

Our final two goals were both scored by Semenyo – one assisted by Christie and one assisted by Unal. A guy behind me had been whinging at half time that Semenyo was a Championship player at best. I wonder whether he ended up eating his words when Semenyo was announced as the sponsors’ ‘man of the match’? Incidentally, speaking of Unal the one disappointment about the second half, from our point of view, was that Unal missed two close range sitters – precisely the kind of scoring opportunity you’d expect him to excel at.

This had turned out to be one of the greatest comebacks ever, and I’d been privileged to be present to witness it first-hand. A straightforward enough drive home, completed in one and three quarter hours despite a motorway closure, capped a good day out.

The team lined up as follows at the start of the game:

Neto;
Smith, Mepham, Zabarnyi, Ouattara;
Cook, Christie;
Semenyo, Scott, Sinisterra;
Solanke

By the end the line-up was:

Neto;
Hill, Mepham, Zabarnyi, Ouattara;
Cook, Adams;
Semenyo, Philip, Tavernier;
Unal

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