Danny Ings scored his third goal for the club to help West Ham produce one of the close football scores of the weekend in the UEFA Conference League. Danny Ings’ first-ever European goal, and his third since joining West Ham, put the visitors ahead on the stroke of half-time (45+3), but they had to stave off a late onslaught at the Ghelamco Arena. While the Hammers, who are attempting to end a 43-year trophy drought, saw their 100 percent record in Europe this season come to an end in the second phase, David Moyes will be optimistic of completing the job on home soil.
Gent had won 10 of their previous 15 home games, and Alessio Castro-Montes assisted striker Hugo Cuypers, who steadied himself before redirecting his shot past Alphonse Areola (56). Referee Tasos Sidiropoulos chose to overturn his decision to send off Kamil Piatkowski after a VAR review had initially penalized him for a challenge on Lucas Paqueta. Replays revealed he received the ball. Gent’s Gift Orban and Tarik Tissoudali both squandered fantastic chances to take a slim lead into the second leg next Thursday, but the draw means the Premier League side will attempt to capitalize on home advantage at the London Stadium.
West Ham had won their previous five away Europa Conference League games, scoring 12 goals and conceding only two, while keeping four clean sheets. Moyes’ team was sluggish at times in the first 45 minutes, with Jordan Torunarigha and Joseph Okumu squandering good chances, but the visitors came alive in the final stages. They were unlucky not to be ahead when Davy Roef’s error led to the Gent custodian fumbling the ball into his own net. However, Roef’s blushes were spared after VAR intervened after observing a handball by Nayef Aguerd during the spillage. It would be a very brief relief.
Gent switched off from a throw-in on the stroke of half-time. Jarrod Bowen was on the lookout for Vladimir Coufal’s quick thinking as he seized onto the restart and crossed for Ings to tap home. The goal was subject to another VAR review, this time for offside, but the judgment went in the Hammers’ favor, much to the pleasure of the 1,000 visiting fans crammed into the opposite corner. Ings scored his first goal in Europe in his first outing since October 2015. Gent, who finished fourth in the Belgian first division, advanced to the quarter-finals by defeating Azerbaijan’s Qarabag and Turkey’s Istanbul Basaksehir in the knockout rounds.
Last season, the Hammers melted in the inferno of Eintracht Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park, losing in the Europa League semi-finals. They showed maturity in absorbing Gent’s predicted second-half reaction. The victors of this encounter will face AZ Alkmaar or Anderlecht, and the second half was blasted wide open when the hosts equalized just 11 minutes after the restart. As Castro-Montes walked forward and found Cuypers, who had time to calm himself and blast in his sixth goal in his past five games and 25th in all competitions this season, West Ham was careless and caught ball-watching.
Gent had the momentum, and he could have sealed the comeback when Castro-Montes pulled his attempt wide midway through the second session. Orban, who scored the fastest hat-trick in European play in the previous round at Istanbul Basaksehir in only three minutes and 25 seconds, sliced his shot wide. Moyes called Paqueta from the bench, and the Brazilian displayed outstanding vision to see Bowen’s diagonal run, whose shot was miscued. In the final 10 minutes, Orban had time to produce a spectacular stroke of improvisation as he attempted to catch Areola off guard with an overhead kick that looped onto the top of the bar.
“There were a couple of decisions tonight that did not go our way that could have been made on other nights, but it had more to do with us encouraging Gent to put us under pressure,” West Ham boss David Moyes said. “We got off to a good start, but we didn’t threaten them enough. We gave up a bad goal and didn’t win enough first and second balls. Tonight, we didn’t get enough of the fundamentals right, which was disappointing. Danny [Ings] will seize opportunities if we create them. Tonight, we didn’t create enough, we didn’t build well enough, and we made things difficult for ourselves. We were more likely to score a second goal on the counter, but it didn’t happen.”
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