West Ham’s 100% record in the third-tier European club competition has come to an end. Gent and the hammers shared the spoils in a closely-fought 1-1 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-final, as the Belgian side extended their impressive home form to just one defeat in 16 matches.Despite competing in the last eight of a European competition for the first time since 1991/92, the hosts looked full of confidence during the opening exchanges, with plenty of possession inside the West Ham half. However, for all their dominance, clear-cut chances came at a premium for the Belgian outfit, with Kamil Piatkowski and Julien De Sart failing to hit the target with a pair of speculative efforts.After an uninspiring start, the visitors gradually gained a foothold in the contest, and were rewarded with a breakthrough on the stroke of halftime. Vladimír Coufal’s quick throw-in found Jarrod Bowen in a pocket of space inside the Gent box, and the English international fired a clever-cut back into the path of Danny Ings, who tapped home for the first European goal of his career.
Undeterred by the set-back, Hein Vanhaezebrouck’s side emerged after the restart eager to regain control of proceedings, and found a deserved equaliser within 12 minutes, as talisman Hugo Cuypers cut inside Ben Johnson and finished confidently beyond Alphonse Areola. Having restored parity, Gent looked to take advantage of their momentum and went in pursuit of a quick-fire second, however Alessio Castro-Montes’ fierce angled strike flew narrowly wide of the far post.
This set up a fascinating final 15 minutes, with both sides intent on finding a late winner to take into next week’s second leg. Roared on by the fervent home support, the best opportunity unsurprisingly fell to the hosts, but Gift Orban’s brilliant acrobatic effort cannoned against the crossbar, as the West Ham rearguard held firm under pressure to take a hard-earned 1-1 draw back to the London Stadium.In the closing minutes of the match, Harambee Stars defender Joseph Okumu was close to spilling it all when he sent a poor pass backwards. His partner in defence Piatkowski had to tackle Lucas Paqueta and in doing so, initially got booked for a red card. Luckily for the hosts and Okumu, the Pole’s intervention was clean, keeping Gent numerically equal for the remainder of the game.UEFA CONFERENCE LEAGUEQuarter-final, first legThursdayGent – West Ham 1-1 (0-1)/Cuypers 57 – Ings 45+3/22:00: (4.10) Lech Poznan (3.50) Fiorentina (1.92)22:00: (2.85) Anderlecht (3.40) AZ Alkmaar (2.60)22:00: (3.70) Basel (3.50) Nice (2.15)***odds are subject to change***