Brentford, who have become familiar to winning thanks to late goals, fell victim to an injury time sucker punch themselves on Tuesday evening, having looked dead an buried at half time in Cardiff.
The Bees were below par in the first half and paid the price of individual errors in critical areas, which were both punished by goals… Nico Yenaris should have done better and cleared the danger for the first, then John Swift had his pocket pinched, which allowed City to capitalise with a swift break and a bundled goal from Kenwyne Jones after Button had saved well.
So, two-down at the interval, and with the rain lashing down, there was a gloomy backdrop for the small band of hardy Bees who had made the trip to South Wales, and early chances to the home side soon after the restart gave no indication that fortunes were about to change.
Change they did however.
The Bees, who had tried to play their slick game all night despite the deficit, gained momentum after the introduction of McEachran and Jota, who replaced KK and Toumani, which culminated in a series of corners… And it was from one of these that Jake Bidwell got his head on to score his first goal for the club.
Visions of a comeback became a reality with just four minutes left on the clock when Alan Judge’s shot was parried by the home keeper, straight into the path of John Swift, who found the perfect finish to the delight of the Bees fans behind the goal.
Unfortunately it appeared the visitors sat back a little too soon after the leveller, which allowed Cardiff a glimmer of hope. The home side had been on the back foot, but pulled a win out of the bag thanks to a quality, overlapping move down the left… The ball being crossed to the predatory Kenwyne Jones (who terrorised us there last season) … his shot found the bottom corner despite Button getting agonisingly close to tipping it wide.
Brentford had done well to fight their way back, but ultimately they were caught short in one or two key positions on the night… We looked weak down the right side defensively, and despite putting in another huge shift work wise, Vibe didn’t get the right service or find the right finish when his chances came.
The last gasp defeat made the journey back up the M4 feel that much longer, I can tell you, but as you will hear in the Pride of West London Post Match Podcast (link above), it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
Dave Lane
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We were below par, but even at 2.0 up, Cardiff under master tactician (that’s irony btw) Russell 8 man defence Slade, spent most of the match sitting 6 across the back with two deep midfield holding players in front. No wonder the rain sodden few home fans were so quiet. At 2.2 they were streaming out in their droves and we were caught with a sucker punch. As Mr Warburton used to say, ‘we didn’t take care of the ball’….we were tired, yes, possession at one point was 71/29% in The Bees favour, Cardiff, who were fortunate to score two scruffy and ugly goals, just sat deep and were so boring…….but RS seems to have found a way to stifle the life out of us in the last two encounters.
Oh how we need a bit more up front…..ticky-tacky is lovely to watch, but Mr Smith needs a plan b or c.
We played well in the second 1/2 and really deserved something to take back up the M4 in the Thames/Taff Derby match.
Hedgehog