Bournemouth 4-3 Luton: Visitors blow 3-goal lead & chance out of relegation zone

This was a match to celebrate comebacks. First and most importantly, that of Tom Lockyer, the Luton captain who returned to the very stadium where he so nearly lost his life following a cardiac arrest on a dark day in December.

Then, that of Bournemouth, who were remarkable in coming back from trailing 3-0 at half-time to secure a 4-3 victory at the Vitality Stadium inspired by a double from Antoine Semenyo.

Their supporters were delirious by the end. Perhaps because their team were so feeble in the first half that this comeback never appeared possible.

Yet this turned into a highly entertaining encounter in what was an emotional evening on the South Coast.

Lockyer wished he could have been on the field with his team-mates, though he knows how fortunate he is to be here at all. It was at the Vitality where he was ‘technically dead’ for two minutes and 40 seconds.

Bournemouth went above and beyond to welcome him back. It is not often an opposition player is chosen for the cover of the match programme but they made an exception for Lockyer.

He was introduced to the crowd prior to kick-off alongside the four paramedics who saved his life, while Bournemouth’s supporters even raised more than £2,000 to pay for buses so that Luton fans could get to this rearranged game.

Those supporters thought they had leapt out of the Premier League's relegation zone at the expense of Nottingham Forest – their opponents this Saturday – as they went in at the break. But Bournemouth had other ideas, showing the fight which was lacking in the first half.

It took Luton three minutes to take the lead in the original fixture in December when Elijah Adebayo headed home Alfie Doughty’s cross. This time, they took nine, though the entire sequence was equal