Europa: Gift Orban Fires Blank as Gent Hold West Ham

Duro  Ikhazuagbe  with agency report

Nigerian wonder-kid in the Belgian league, Gift Orban was all action as Gent held West Ham to a 1-1 draw in their Europa Conference League quarter final first leg.

Orban – who scored a hat-trick in 205 seconds in the last round – hit the bar with a wonderful 82nd-minute acrobatic attempt. The English team saw their  100 per cent winning run in the Europa Conference League ended by Gent.

The Hammers looked on course to make it 11 wins out of 11 in Europe this season when Danny Ings tapped home after the hosts were caught out by a quickly taken throw-in.

David Moyes’ side, Europa League semi-finalists last season, had to soak up waves of pressure in an intense quarter-final first leg in Belgium and Gent equalised after a clever touch and finish by Hugo Cuypers.

“I didn’t think the performance was good but the result was not a bad result,” West Ham boss Moyes said.

There was drama however deep in stoppage time when Gent’s Kamil Piatkowski was shown a red card for bringing down substitute Lucas Paqueta, but it was overturned after the referee watched the incident again on the pitchside monitor.

Elsewhere, Mats Wieferr gave Feyenoord a slender 1-0 advantage over Roma in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie.

The midfielder met Oussama Idrissi’s left-wing cross, with his 20-yard effort going through a crowded area and bouncing twice on its way in.

Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini hit the post with a first-half penalty after a harsh handball call against Wieferr.

Jose Mourinho’s Roma lost Argentina forward Paulo Dybala to a thigh injury in the 26th minute, while England striker Tammy Abraham suffered a shoulder issue in the 58th minute.