Eoin Visar’s dramatic injury-time strike gave Brentford their first win in the Premier League with a 2-1 win over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium.
Dominic Solanke’s 19th goal of the season looked set for Bournemouth after Bryan Mbuemo scored his 50th for the Bees Earned a well deserved point.
But Visa – the man who opened the scoring for Mbeumo -‘s last words in the fifth minute of stoppage time left the Cherries even more frustrated after two first-half goals from Andoni Ilaura’s side Both goals were controversially disallowed.
Brentford started brightly, with Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers being the first to act, doing well to keep out Kean Lewis-Potter’s low shot.
Antoine Semenho’s long-range shot was then deflected away by Brentford number one Mark Flecken, who also equalized Dango Otara’s shot, and the home side began to take control of the game. Solanke thought he had broken the deadlock in the 26th minute when he coolly crossed Flecken after being broken through by Semenho.
Bournemouth’s joy was short-lived as the goal was disallowed after a VAR review as the referee deemed Semenho had controlled the ball with his hands during the attack, although replays suggested this was not an intentional act. It was an awkward moment for Solanke, who put on a mask to celebrate but had his goal disallowed.
New referee Matt Donoghue, in his first Premier League game in charge, felt the wrath of Illaura, with the Bournemouth boss being booked for protesting a free-kick shortly after the incident. Illaura was furious again when Solanke’s second shot was disallowed for a minor foul on Brentford defender Nathan Collins.
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The main talking point of the second half before the final flurry of goals was the penalty Brentford were awarded after Ivan Toney went down under a challenge from Ilya Zabarny. Just as Toney grabbed the ball and was about to take the penalty, Donoghue was called to the live review screen and reversed his decision after deciding Toney went down too easily.
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Mbemo eventually opened the scoring with four minutes of normal time left, with a simple shot in front of Flecken’s long kick after a tap-in from Visa. Three minutes later, with the away fans still celebrating, Bournemouth went straight for an equalizer at the other end, with top scorer Solanke heading in a cross from Marcos Senesi and past Flecken. .
This time, Solanke’s mask-clad celebration was uninterrupted, but there was time for more drama when Mbeumo let go of Visa and the substitute fired home the winner from an acute angle.
