Incentivised by knowing victory would’ve seen them end the night outside of the bottom-three, Luton started like a side possessed on the south coast.
The Hatters had bookmarked this game in hand for weeks as their golden ticket to escape the clutches of relegation and they were in no mood to pass up their opportunity, hitting the front inside 10 minutes when Jordan Clark picked out the unmarked Tahith Chong at the far post.
Luis Sinisterra led the Bournemouth response, twice forcing Thomas Kaminski into smart saves to preserve their early advantage. It didn’t take much longer for the Cherries to find themselves in a similar position to the weekend though, where they were 2-0 down against another newly-promoted side in Sheffield United.
Chiedozie Ogbene was the man to inflict the next blow on the hosts, as he powered home at the back post after Alfie Doughty laid the ball on a plate for him. Bournemouth proved they could fight back from two goals down on Saturday, but Wednesday was a totally different proposition as they were three behind by half-time when Ross Barkley rounded off a free-flowing counter-attack by firing into the roof of the net.
However, Andoni Iraola’s side did look up for the fight after the break, and they reduced the arrears within five minutes of the restart when Dominic Solanke’s turn bamboozled the Luton defence before he lifted an effort over the on-rushing Kaminski.
If Luton were nervy after one, they were sitting uncomfortably when Illia Zabarnyi headed home his first Bournemouth goal from close range and from then on, there was an air of inevitability about what was coming next.
That equaliser duly arrived minutes later through Antoine Semenyo, who stepped in off the right and unleashed a rocket into the bottom corner with his left foot to level the scores within 20 second-half minutes.
Many would have expected Luton to fold from there, but they put up a valiant battle until the 84th minute, when they were eventually undone by another Semenyo strike which completed the comeback of all comebacks. Highlighting just how impressive the turnaround was, no side had overturned a 3-0 deficit in the Premier League to win since 2003/04.
It’s a crushing psychological blow for Luton, who missed the chance to jump out of the bottom three and must quickly dust themselves down before their nearest rivals Nottingham Forest visit Kenilworth Road on Saturday.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth)
