AA Gent 1 – 1 West Ham

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West Ham’s Europa Conference League quarter-final with Gent is finely poised after the first leg ended in a 1-1 draw on Thursday night.

Danny Ings’ first ever European goal and third since joining West Ham gave the visitors the lead on the stroke of half-time (45+3) but they had to withstand a late onslaught at the Ghelamco Arena.

The Hammers, seeking to break a 43-year trophy drought, saw their 100 per cent record in Europe this season ended in the second period, but David Moyes will feel confident of completing the job back on home soil.

Gent had won 10 of their previous 15 home games, and Alessio Castro-Montes was involved in the equaliser as he combined with striker Hugo Cuypers, who steadied himself before reversing his shot beyond Alphonse Areola (56).

There was late drama when referee Tasos Sidiropoulos opted to reverse his decision to send off Kamil Piatkowski after a VAR review having initially dismissed him for a challenge on Lucas Paqueta. Replays showed he got the ball.

Gent’s Gift Orban and Tarik Tissoudali both missed good chances to take a slender lead into the second leg next Thursday but the draw means it is the Premier League side who will look to make the most of home advantage at the London Stadium.

Job done for West Ham in Belgium

West Ham had won all six of their previous away Europa Conference League games, scoring 12 goals, conceding only two in keeping four clean sheets, but this hard-fought draw will feel more satisfying than all those previous successes.

Moyes’ side were ponderous, at times, during the opening 45 minutes as Jordan Torunarigha and Joseph Okumu headed presentable opportunities wide, but the visitors came alive in the closing stages.

They were unfortunate not to lead when a mistake from Davy Roef resulted in the Gent goalkeeper spilling the ball into his own net.

But Roef’s blushes were spared after VAR intervened having seen a handball by Nayef Aguerd during the spillage. It would prove a very short reprieve.

Gent switched off on the stroke of half-time from a throw in. Jarrod Bowen was alert to Vladimir Coufal’s quick-thinking as he latched onto the restart to cross for Ings to tap home.

On his first European appearance since October 2015, Ings had his maiden strike on the continent.

Fourth in the Belgian first division, Gent reached the quarter-finals by beating Qarabag of Azerbaijan and Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir in the knockout rounds.

Last season the Hammers melted in the cauldron of Eintracht Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park, crashing out in the semi-final of the Europa League. But here, they showed maturity to absorb Gent’s expected second-half response.

AZ Alkmaar or Anderlecht await the winners of this tie – and the second half was blown wide open when the hosts levelled just 11 minutes after the restart.

West Ham were sloppy and caught ball-watching as Castro-Montes strolled forward and found Cuypers, who had time to steady himself and blast in his sixth goal in his last five games and 25th in all competitions this season.

The momentum was with Gent, who might have completed the turnaround when Castro-Montes dragged his shot wide midway through the second period.

The lively Orban, who scored the fastest hat-trick in European competition at Istanbul Basaksehir in the last round – timed at just three minutes and 25 seconds – sliced another attempt off target.

Paqueta was summoned by Moyes from the bench and the Brazilian showed superb vision to spot the diagonal run of Bowen, whose shot was miscued.

There was still time for Orban to produce a brilliant piece of improvisation in the final 10 minutes as he looked to catch Areola off his line with an overhead kick which looped onto the top of the bar – but West Ham survived with a valiant draw despite the late drama involving Piatkowski.