Bees deliver an excellent performance

An excellent performance in the glorious sunshine saw the bees deservedly rollover a seemingly unmotivated Huddersfield side.

Following the lacklustre last two home games of a boring 1-0 win over Leyton Orient and a dreadful 0-0 against Exeter City, the bees started brightly and looked like a team that was relaxed and out to enjoy the game. On paper the bees defence looked a little weak with the often unfancied Danny Foster back on the right, Karleigh partnering Leon Legge and the out of position Sam Wood on the left. Dave and Bean in the middle were nicely balanced with Weston and Grabban out wide. Weston in particular was magnificent throughout and Lewis Grabban used less pace but more trickery to the same effect. Cort and MacDonald led the line superbly and proved, as I've always believed, that they could form an excellent partnership.

The first half saw a few chances for both sides, Danny Foster heading over from a Grabban cross being the pick of the bunch, but there was good football from both sides while the Bees were always on top and strangely seemed more motivated.

The second half saw Huddersfield start brightly but to no great effect then Bean, having his best game for a while, and Dave took over the midfield and bringing the wingers in to great effect. After 70 minutes the bees were awarded a deserved penalty for something or other, a handball I think, cooly despatched by Mac, hard and low to the keeper's right.

This was followed by a little flurry of action from Huddersfield which petered out quickly as the bees midfield took control once more. Carl Cort on the halfway line played a straight, defence splitting ball for Grabban to chase down, take into the box and shoot across the keeper into the corner of the net.

Two minutes later the game was dead and buried when Mac picked up a Foster throw in, turned in the box and lifted the ball ever so slightly over the keeper into the net. Cue delerium.

Huddersfield made a few chances of their own throughout the game but nothing that Roger couldn't handle - that was until he gave away a penalty in injury time. It looked a little harsh from where we were and Roger was livid with the decision. Roberts blazed the ball miles over the bar almost into the upper tier. Roger was so happy that I expected him to run up to the referee and flick a load of v's into his face!

Game over.

What could have been a dreadfully boring end of season run has now been enlivened with a great performance and the hope that there is more to come.

Brentford: Roger; Foster, Legge, Osborne, Wood; Grabban (sub Saunders 87 mins), Bean, Dave, Weston; MacDonald, Cort

Subs (not used): Price, Blake, Hunt, Strevens

Brentford 0 - Exeter 0 in a Snore Draw

Brentford drew 0-0 at home to Exeter taking them to 52 points.

Sam Wood did quite well at left back, Leon and Karleigh did OK and a couple of others ran around a bit and occasionally passed the ball to a team-mate.

That's about it.

Bees - Chesney, Osborne, Legge, Pim, Wood, Grabban (Ainsworth), Bean, Dave, Hunt, Weston (Strevens), Macdonald.

Millwall 1 - Brentford 1 as Bees earn good point at Millwall

Brentford battled hard for a well earnt point at Millwall in an entertaining 1-1 draw

The Bees put in a decent stint against a team hoping to go up automatically and, whilst keeper Chesney put in a typically good performance with some excellent stops, Brentford showed enough pace and ability on the break to earn a point.

Carl Cort latched on to Karleigh Osborne's pass to put Brentford into the lead against the run of play in the first half before Paul Robinson equalised for Millwall with a header from a corner with about 15 minutes to go.

Unfortunately Brentford picked up some injuries along the way with Dickson and SuperKev first half casulaties, and Charlie departing with a head injury after the break.

One other slightly souring note was the Brentford supporter who chose to throw a chair/sign and managed to hit one of their own fans. Just moronic however you look at it.

Bees - Szczesny, Kev (Hunt), Legge, Osborne, Balkestein, Dickson (Wood), Dave, Bean, Weston, Cort, Mac (Ainsworth)

Unused Bees - Price, Foster, Saunders, Strevens

Oldham 2 - Brentford 3: Mac scores two as Bees win away

Brentford were involved in an another roller coaster match tonight but held on for all three points at struggling Oldham.

Oldham opened and closed the scoring through Pawell Abott but Brentford took control of the game in between with a brace from Charlie Mac and a first goal from Pim Balkestein.

Mac's first came from some good work on the right by Lewis Grabban before Pim put Brentford into the lead, converting a Hunt set piece. The lively Macdonald then made things more comfortable with a good run and finish.

Oldham had their chances too - Chesney making one outstanding save - and the Latics missed a late chance from two yards. "That's why we're going down" sang the home fans who have lost patience with manager Dave Penney.

Brentford's star performers last night were Mac, Szczesny and the two centre backs. We lost control of the middle of the park a bit when Bean went off at half-time - possibly due to injury?

Bees - Chesney, Kev, Legge, Pim, Wood (Saunders), Hunt, Dave, Bean (Strevens), Weston, Mac, Grabban (Foster)

Unused Bees - Price, Blake, Cort, Osborne

Brentford 1 - 0 Leyton Orient

Brentford scraped a narrow win in an uninspiring local derby against Leyton Orient.

The first half saw quite a poor Brentford performance with only Kev O'Connor in stand out form. Typically Marcus Bean in the centre requires some time to get into his stride when he hasn't had much playing time but improved throughout the game. Pim and Legge were solid but needed Kev to get in and block and play the Bees out of trouble on occasion. Wood struggled a little in his unfavoured defensive role.

In the middle Dave was the better performer with Weston ever willing and Saunders looking out of form. Weston's lovely cross in for Saunders to head over the bar at close range was the only real Brentford chance of the half before, new boy, Grabban hit the post and the ball was adjudged to have crossed the line before being hacked away. There was no argument from the Orient players.

Orient had the better of the first half play but their shots were either blocked or straight at the keeper.

Brentford improved in the second half and Orient's keeper had to pull off two fantastic saves from Grabban and MacDonald to keep the score down. Grabban improved throughout the second half and when Saunders was replaced by Strevens, Grabban moved into midfield and did a good job there too.

Roger Chesney made an excellent save in the dying minutes, a shot which he would have seen late as it came through a forest of legs.

The bees just about deserved it in the end but they shouldn't take so long getting going if they want to continue picking up points. Orient have some decent players in Spicer and Thornton but James Scowcroft is a bit of a fat lump and not far off Neil Shipperley's fighting weight!

Man of the Match: Super Kev

Brentford: Szczesny; O'Connor, Legge, Balkestein, Wood; Saunders (sub Strevens 62 mins), Bean, Diagouraga, Weston; MacDonald, Grabban (sub Hunt 87 mins)

Subs (not used): Price, Foster, Osborne, Blake, Cort

Bookings: Saunders (40 mins)

Leyton Orient: Jones; Lichaj, Chorley, Mkandawire, Daniels; Spicer, Chambers (sub Smith 86 mins), Thornton, Demetriou (sub Jarvis h/t); Tehoue (sub Patulea 79 mins), Scowcroft

Subs (not used): Morris, Ashworth, Cave-Brown, Baker

Bookings: Tehoue (39 mins), Lichaj (42 mins), Thornton (76 mins), Scowcroft (90 mins)

Thanks to beesotted for their match reports.

April 16, 2010