Armando Broja snatches late equaliser at Bournemouth to end Burnley’s losing streak

Armando Broja scored a last-minute equaliser to end Burnley’s seven-game losing run and leave Bournemouth winless in eight.

Bournemouth thought they had won it when the sought-after Antoine Semenyo scored his eighth goal of the season to finally break through Burnley’s spirited defence after 67 minutes. But second-half substitutes Marcus Edwards and Broja combined to earn the returning Scott Parker a point his team had scarcely deserved.

“The most important thing was the result, let’s not beat about the bush,” Parker said. “Today wasn’t about the performance.”

A spate of illness forced Parker to make six changes to his side as he came back to the Vitality Stadium for the first time since being sacked by Bournemouth in August 2022. The veteran Kyle Walker was among those recalled to the starting 11 after suspension.

One of Andoni Iraola’s two changes was to bring in David Brooks on the right, and he came close in the early stages, curling a left-foot shot just beyond the far post.

Bournemouth created all the early pressure and Brooks went closer still a few minutes later, this time dragging a low shot wide of the near post after a clever touch from Evanilson.

Semenyo was causing plenty of problems on the other flank and he set up the next chance for Justin Kluivert, who curled his effort narrowly wide from 20 yards. The fourth chance went to Semenyo himself with the Ghanaian drifting in from the left and firing a powerful effort wide of the far post.

Burnley offered no threat in the first half and had just 28% of the possession. With their only attack of note the former Bournemouth winger Jaidon Anthony did put the ball in the net from Josh Laurent’s low cross but was flagged offside, a decision reinforced by the video assistant referee.

The pattern continued in the second half with Bournemouth again camped in Burnley’s final third. Brooks had another early effort, this time heading over Marcos Senesi’s far-post cross.

Iraola made early attacking changes with Enes Ünal and Eli Junior Kroupi brought on in place of Evanilson and Kluivert.

It provided a catalyst and, so often the hero, Semenyo did it again, with a brilliant curling shot into the far corner.

The Burnley response finally came in the 90th minute when Edwards curled a cross to the far post and Broja rose highest to score.

Iraola rued missed chances, with his side managing one shot on target from a total of 17 efforts on goal. “It’s frustrating because it’s a game that we were not feeling the pressure from them,” he said. “But this is the danger of being 1-0. We’ve had chances to kill it, we didn’t kill it and these things can happen.”

He refused to be drawn on whether this could have been Semenyo’s final home game for the club. Iraola said: “Antoine is playing very well, he’s performing well and definitely I expect him to continue. He’s a massive player for us, this is very clear. He helps us not only on the numbers, assists, goals and this, but in a lot of other areas.”