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Brentford were unlucky to come away without a point from their trip to the South Coast – a single goal, scored by substitute debutant Junior Stanislas in the 72nd minute  – separated the sides as Bournemouth ran out 1-0 victors.

Up until that point the Bees had more than matched their rivals and could have been one goal up as early as the 4th minute when Andre Gray picked up a short free kick … Turned and shot .. With the ball cannonballing off the underside of the crossbar. A very well worked free-kick, but without the end product it deserved.

Odubajo looked lively, forcing a save off keeper Camp a few minutes later as Brentford were in the ascendency

It wasn’t all one-way traffic however,  Button pulled off a fantastic save from Kermogant as Bournemouth moved the ball about in the midfield but all in all, Brentford looked comfortable, breaking up every Bournemouth attack and reducing them to very few clear cut chances.

The Bees started the game well and finished the game well, but Bournemouth getting more into the game as half time approached.

HT. 0-0

The Cherries started the second half as they finished – forcing the play with the Bees hitting them back on the break. Bidwell cleared off the line when Bournemouth really should have scored, while at the other end, Judge had a couple of chances for the Bees – opting to try a long-ranger rather than finding a team-mate in space once or twice.

As the half went on, it was the Bees who looked more likely to score with Dallas coming on for below par Tebar and provided another attacking option, one which Bournemouth found hard to deal with.

However, it was The Cherries who finally scored the decisive goal after the Bees gave possession away on the half-way line, Fraser taking the ball down the line and crossing for an unmarked Stanislas to slot the ball in at the far post.

There was a comedy moment to come when the referee somehow took Pritchard out from behind when he was in a dangerous position. One Bournemouth fan gave him 10/10 in his post match report … for his timely defending.

The appearance of Smith and Proschwitz for Odubajo and Gray in the last ten minutes upped the ante for the Bees as the visitors finished well… but they couldn’t find a way through the Bournemouth defence.

FT. Bournemouth 1 Brentford 0

Fans on the Bournemouth forum “Up the Cherries” were quick to praise the Bees feeling that Bournemouth gained a hard-worked if not fortunate 3 points. They were impressed how Brentford were able to get behind the lines by running at their full-backs, feeling the Bees never gave their creative players a minute to play the ball but their finishing let them down.

GrahamH: “I think Brentford will do ok, they’ll adapt to this league and learn how to score given time. They were better than many teams we saw last year, certainly got some fight about them”

Gray was a constant thorn in Bournemouth’s side and Bournemouth fans felt he would have caused them more problems if he was given more of the ball.

Interesting to note that the Bournemouth goal came after a double-substitution, which brought on fresh legs in Fraser and Stanislas. Gray would cause lethal damage if he were to come off the bench against tired legs. With Hogan back in the frame soon and, potentially, another striker on the cards, our striking options will start to improve in September we hope.

Until then, Brentford need to get some points on the board. On paper, games away to Blackpool and at home to Birmingham, should see us pull in at least four if not six points from the next two fixtures.

Brentford can take solace in the fact that one of the top footballing sides in the division has put us in the “decent team. Hard to beat” category, but, a point would have been only fair yesterday.

Hopefully we can learn from this quickly .. And move forward

BillytheBee
@billythebee99