West Ham throw away two-goal lead as Unal salvages draw for Bournemouth

Enes Unal scored moments after climbing off the bench to snatch a point for Bournemouth. The Turkish forward, making his second substitute appearance after recovering from a second ACL injury, struck nine minutes from time to deny West Ham a first away win under Nuno Espirito Santo. “Everyone is so happy and so pleased when these things happen,” said Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth’s manager. “Ten months fighting almost alone, with the physios.”

Callum Wilson had marked his return to his former club with two first-half goals, but when he went off West Ham’s momentum went with him. Marcus Tavernier pulled one back from the penalty spot before Unal struck, with the 28-year-old visibly emotional as he celebrated.

Bournemouth should have won it, but Tavernier lifted a glorious chance over the crossbar at the death. They were without Antoine Semenyo due to an ankle sprain picked up on Ghana duty, but dominated the early stages until 11 minutes in when Wilson controlled a long clearance from goalkeeper Alphonse Areola on his chest and hit a low shot from the edge of the area. Djordje Petrovic got two hands to the ball, but, probably not helped by the slippery conditions, he could not keep it out.

Bournemouth tried to hit straight back, but Eli Junior Kroupi volleyed over and Tavernier scuffed a decent chance wide. Wilson, who scored 67 goals in a six-year-spell at Bournemouth, was making his first appearance at the Vitality Stadium since he left for Newcastle in 2020 and he doubled West Ham’s lead 10 minutes before half-time.

A deep Freddie Potts free-kick was helped on by Jarrod Bowen and Jean-Clair Todibo to Wilson, who swivelled and crashed a volley high into the net. When the 33-year-old was substituted early in the second half, he received warm applause from all sides of the ground.

Bournemouth immediately began to threaten again, with Areola saving from Ryan Christie and Evanilson lifting his shot over the bar. They were thrown a lifeline after 67 minutes when Max Kilman slid in to try to dispossess Evanilson and nicked the ball away with his trailing arm, with Tavernier lashing home from the penalty spot.

They should have equalised when Tavernier’s low cross found Kroupi at the far post, but Areola stuck out a glove to make a fine save. Instead, moments later, Marcos Senesi threaded the ball through West Ham’s defence and Unal turned and fired home.

The home side should have won it after Areola parried Evanilson’s shot but Tavernier blazed the rebound over the crossbar.

“I think we’ve been much better than West Ham,” said Iraola. “Even in the first half we conceded two goals, but we were not worse than West Ham. But in the second half we’ve been miles better and we had so many chances that for us it’s a bad point.”

Nuno said: “Today was a good chance. You can look, OK, it slipped away from our hands. But I’m positive because the effort of the players was there.”