BOURNEMOUTH’s 3-1 win over Sparta Prague descended into first-half chaos after a flurry of activity left fans breathless.

The Cherries made the long journey to Prague to continue their high-flying start to the Europa League campaign.

The positive momentum looked set to carry on after the visitors were awarded a penalty in the opening half hour of the clash.

Midfielder Lewis Cook took the responsibility for the spot kick, and lined up the bottom left corner.

He sent the keeper the wrong way but watched as his spot-kick clattered the inside of the post and rolled across the mouth of the goal without crossing the line.

Fans were far from chuffed with the strike, with one writing: “Stop with the stutter penalties, just hit it.”

Another supporter added: “What is that technique? He put himself off, run and just hit it!”

After a cruel twist of fate at one end, there was nothing fortunate about the way Sparta took the lead.

The fans’ frustrations were not helped five minutes later, when Ebrima Singhateh opened the scoring in spectacular fashion.

From a Bournemouth corner, keeper Jakub Surovcík set Singhateh racing away.

The forward easily escaped Cook’s soft attempt to stop him before some dazzling footwork to undo Adam Smith and slot a low finish home.

Given it was the first goal Bournemouth had conceded in nearly 10 hours of football, it had to take something quite special.

But the hosts’ joy was short-lived after defender Tobias Guddal picked up a bizarre red card.

The 6ft 7in centre-back had already been cautioned by referee Erik Lambrechts after just six minutes.

This made his decision to move away from a falling long ball to instead rugby tackle Cherries frontman Alvaro Rodriguez all the more confounding.

The Norwegian somehow appeared confused as he was given his marching orders, but ultimately he made way to give his side a real challenge in the second period.

With a man advantage, Rose replaced Smith with Adams at the break and the American quickly made his mark, pounding on a loose ball on the edge of the box to side-foot the leveller in before the hour mark.

Evanilson, Marcus Tavernier and Rayan were all added to the attack as the Cherries pushed for a winner.

The Czechs frustrated the visitors, sitting deep as the Cherries struggled to create.

But after Ryan Christie stole the ball on the edge of the box, he fed Evanilson who shifted into space and slipped a slick finish into the far post.

With their hosts tiring, Rayan stepped up to make it a substitute hat-trick, rifling a low finish into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.