Brentford were left ruing a host of first-half missed chances and were forced to settle for a point against Walsall at Griffin Park. The closest the Bees got to breaking the deadlock came when a Saddler’s defender almost scored a great own goal, the ball rebounding off the post with the goalie beaten.
Uwe Rosler started with Bradley Wright-Phillips and Marcello Trotta spear-heading the attack, with Clayton Donaldson roaming from flank to flank – and although the Bees created several clear-cut opportunities, they were missing the extra spark that Harry Forrester or Sam Saunders can supply. Tom Adeyemi also had a quiet game and wasn’t up to his recent high standards and Adam Forshaw forgot the pack his shooting boots.
In fairness Walsall looked lively and mixed the game up well, disrupting Brentford’s style and carving out several chances of their own, on the break.
Jonathan Douglas was again masterful and, as always, involved in everything. You certainly couldn’t question the reds’ determination, but it was one of those games where you knew early on that we were in for a frustrating afternoon.
Wright-Phillips clearly needed to get some game-time under his belt, and perhaps Uwe will be tempted to start with Harry Forrester on Tuesday night and with Donaldson alongside the Charlton loanee, but on the plus side, results elsewhere mean that our play-off/promotion chances haven’t been dented by this draw.
Brentford travel to Crawley Town on Tuesday, which will be another tough encounter.