A wonderful day of ska breakfasts at the Specials-endorsed 2tone cafe and beverages in the sunshine at canal side pubs was slightly spoiled by the match not going 100% to plan. BillytheBee takes a trip to Coventry to witness the Bees take another small but arguably important step towards possible promotion.
Harry Forrester scores for Brentford to rescue a point at The Ricoh stadium in a game that saw Brentford once again play some quality football but fail to create many clear-cut chances.
Ringing the changes after the defeat at Franchise FC aka MK Dons, Trotta was dropped from the side with Adeyemi returned back into the midfield alongside Logan with Hodson slipping in at right back. Diagouraga was dropped to the bench. As is pretty standard nowadays, Brentford started brightly taking the game to Coventry who, not too unlike Franchise FC on Monday, were happy to sit back and hit the Bees on the break. Will this now be the tactic for every side we visit until the end of the season?
Hodson, Forshaw and Forrester all had half chances with Coventry seemingly nervous of their higher-placed opposition. But as time went by, the home team started to take the game by the scruff of the neck and it took a fine save by Moore to deny Coventry taking the lead with Dean throwing his body in front of the ball to save the rebound shot and the follow up was again blocked.
A lovely move from Forrester saw him dink the ball up and over to Donaldson and his lob over the oncoming keeper took a bounce just before the goal landing just wide of the post to cries of anguish from the 1650 Bees fans who thought the ball had dropped into the net.
Then right on the stroke of half-time, the counter-attack lightning was to strike yet again. Dean was adjudged to have fouled Wood in the box and the referee gave a rather penalty to Coventry for w rather innocuous-looking challenge. Baker stepped up and put the Sky Blues one goal up to take a half-time advantage.
Uwe made an immediate substitution. Douglas had apparently got a knock but fans were commenting during the game on the fact he seemed hesitant to make a tackle – being only one booking away from a two-match ban. Diagouraga came on in his place and the Bees came straight out of the blocks. Donaldson’s used his shoulder to great effect to get past his Coventry marker and his cross was touched on by Forshaw and Harry Forrester was on hand to blast the ball home from inside the area with barely a minute of the 2nd half gone.
Diagouraga definitely made a difference as the game opened up and he worked hard to break the game up and lay the ball off – as he does. Bees looked like they were going to take the match to their opponents now and, as Uwe took Hodson off for Bradley Wright-Phillips, it looked like they were really going for the kill. Unfortunately, Bradley didn’t add very much to the Bees fire-power and as the clock wound down, the frustrated Bees fans saw yet another team who were there for the taking not being dutifully killed off. Saunders came on for Forrester and added a fresh impetus to the Bees’ plight but still no killer edge. Then in the final minute, Forshaw played a ball in that eventually fell to Clayton Donaldson. 8 yards out with only the keeper to beat, he somehow manages to sky his shot both high and wide. If he had decided to place his shot, surely he would have scored. And there it was – 2 points went begging right at that very moment.
Uwe said after the game he was very happy with the performance. The fact that we controlled the second half and managed to stop the away-loss rot was key for him. The fan banter on the way home was more one of frustration. No-one was denying that our football had dramatically improved over the last 12 months. If we were told at the start of the season we would be five points off automatic promotion with 5 games to go and 2 games in hand, we would have all taken that there and then. However, there was a general frustration that a perceived reticence may cost us dear in a league which is not seen as being particularly strong and we could possibly miss out on our best chance of automatic promotion for years if we don’t throw a little caution-to-the-wind over the next few games.
Donaldson has scored a respectable 21 goals with Forrester, who has spent a fair amount of the last few months on the bench, next in line with 11 goals. There could be an argument that other than the obvious – the lack of goals from Donaldson’s strike partners – the midfield isn’t chipping in enough with goals and this is putting even greater pressure on Donaldson to deliver.
Fans’ frustration has seen them go from expecting playoffs at the beginning of the season …. to sniffing automatic promotion from Xmas … And then back to possible playoffs in the run-in. With our appalling ‘zero in six’ record in the playoffs, no wonder there’s a sudden air of doom and gloom wafting around Griffin Park – no matter how much improved we are this season.
Matthew Benham has asked the fans to not be too hard on team as they are young and still learning. And he has a point. If the owner is willing to see the long-term then that’s not a bad thing. There is no denying that if we keep this side together, we would be a far more deadly and much more experienced outfit if we happened to remain in division 1 for another 12 months. Some fans have suggested, as much as they would love promotion, another year of consolidation in this division may actually set us up better for football in a higher league.
But for now, we’re still well and truly in the mixer. We’re 5 points off automatic promotion with 2 games in hand over Bournemouth in 2nd place. They may have their mojo back after a dodgy run but moving into cliche-land it’s still all very much in our own hands. We’ve just made life a little more difficult for ourselves. Every single person who has been supporting this team over the years knows we never ever make it easy. Why should this season be any different?
So onto Crewe on Wednesday. Uwe has declared this game “3 points or bust”. With any luck, the Crewe team will be rolling straight out of the boozer and into the dressing room on Wednesday after another afternoon out celebrating their JPT Wembley victory. Clutching at straws? Of course we are ….. Surely that’s part and parcel of supporting Brentford.
BillytheBee
@billythebee
Coventry City: Murphy (GK), Christie, Wood, Martin, Haynes, Baker (c), Moussa (McDonald 73), Jennings, Fleck, Bailey (Bell 64), Wilson.
Subs: Dunn (GK), J. Clarke, Thomas, Ball, Edjenguele.
Brentford: Moore (GK), Forshaw, Craig, Dean, Douglas (c), Donaldson, Adeyemi, Hodson (Wright-Phillips 71), Logan, Forrester (Saunders 78), Bidwell.
Subs: Gounet (GK), O’Connor, Trotta, Diagouraga, Reeves.
Crowd: 10,642 (1649 Brentford fans)
[soccer-info id=’21’ type=’table’ highlight=’722||Brentford’ /]
[soccer-info id=’21’ type=’results’ highlight=’722||Brentford’ /]
