Brentford squash Cherries after frantic finale
Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo starred in a frantic finish as Brentford emerged with a dramatic 2-1 away victory against Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The match was goalless after 85 minutes and it looked like visitors Brentford had snatched victory when a fine pass by Wissa allowed Mbeumo to open the scoring.
But Dominic Solanke headed in an equaliser for the hosts with one minute of normal time remaining.
That was not to be the last of the drama, though, as Mbeumo turned provider and Wissa scored the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage-time.
Defeat means Bournemouth is 11th in the standings, behind Brighton and Hove Albion on goal difference, while Brentford is 16th, now just one point behind Everton.
The Cherries thought they had opened the scoring midway through the first half via top scorer Solanke, but after a VAR review, referee Matt Donohue disallowed the strike after checking the pitch-side screen.
Donohue, taking charge of his first ever Premier League game, adjudged that Antoine Semenyo handled the ball before providing the pass to Solanke.
In a game of few quality chances, Keane Lewis-Potter came close for the away side on the hour-mark. After good build-up play, captain Christian Nørgaard slipped in the 23-year-old midfielder, but he was unable to make clean contact with the ball and Mark Travers in the Bournemouth goal was able to gather.
It took until 65 minutes for Bournemouth to win its first corner of the afternoon, and it led to its first serious chance of the second period.
The Cherries have already scored 11 goals from corners in 2023-2024, more than in any previous Premier League campaign, but Lloyd Kelly’s header narrowly missed the target, rolling just wide of the post.
Ivan Toney thought he had won a penalty in the 71st minute after falling to ground under pressure from Illia Zabarnyi. Referee Donohue originally awarded the spot-kick, but another VAR intervention saw him reverse his decision after it was deemed that contact was not sufficient to warrant the penalty.
Eventually, a mad spell of three goals in nine minutes saw Brentford come out on top.
Mbeumo thought he had won the game for Brentford with just three minutes left to play, racing on to Wissa’s pass to finish well past Travers, but Solanke’s header looked set to win the home side a point.
It was left to Wissa to win the game for Thomas Frank’s side in the fifth minute of injury time, slamming high into the net from an Mbeumo assist.