Brentford notched up another must-win under the Griffin Park floodlights on Tuesday night, seeing off Tranmere 2-0 thanks to two second half goals by James Tarkowski and Clayton Donaldson. With both Wolves and Leyton Orient winning away, there was no room for error and the three-point haul was essential.
Mark Warburton chose to rest both Adam Forshaw and Marcello Trotta from the starting eleven –Reeves and Grigg getting the nod instead – and although the Bees once again enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, things weren’t gelling.
Tranmere came out of the blocks quickly and could have taken the lead on several occasions – twice hitting the woodwork, and David Button having to pull off a rescuing save after Tarkowski’s back pass fell short – but the escapes suggested it would be the Bees’ night if they could find the break-through.
As was the case against Bradford on Saturday, Brentford went in at the break goal-less, but stepped up the pace in the second period. Alan Judge was a real livewire all night, indeed, the Blackburn Rovers loanee provided the crosses for both headed goals – the first from a corner just past the hour mark, the second after great wing-play on 74 minutes – a peach of a cross from which it was impossible for Clayton to miss…. thankfully!
The referee was a real pedantic piece of work it must be noted – booking both Alan McCormack and James Tarkowski for incidents that only he knows why – the ref seemed to want to find an excuse, any excuse.
Forshaw and Trotta came on for Saville and Grigg respectively, as did Charlie Adams (for Judge) who showed some lovely touches himself and went close to scoring.
But, as I expressed at the start of the report, this match was a case of the result being all-important: with the trip to Leyton Orient coming into sharp focus – a game that has been dubbed as ‘League One’s match of the season’ – Brentford could simply not afford to drop points. I’m sure that everybody would have gone home content that, with our two games in hand, third place sat on the tails of the O’s and still within striking distance of Wolves, is a good place to be.
Dave Lane
