BillytheBee and Laney took a trip up to The town of Northampton … “Where most of the fighting” was alleged to have been done by some fairytale merchant … But, armed only with a pen and iPhone cameras, they witnessed a swashbuckling performance from the Bees.
In retrospect, this was arguably the best result of the season. Most fans looked to the Sheffield United result and were delighted, but with the Blades currently sitting bottom of the table, we have to be realistic – this win over Coventry now seems a far more impressive result.
The Sky Blues have been banging in the goals, 22 goals in 8 games,whilst our defence has had it’s issues over the last few weeks. This could have been the proverbial train crash waiting to happen – but that’s not how it turned out at all as the Bees quickly asserted control on the match and took the game to Coventry.
The thirty or so, lonely, protesting Coventry fans who had perched themselves on what has been dubbed ‘Jimmy’s Hill’ overlooking the the ground would have been looking for Coventry to carry on the form which had seen them unbeaten in the stadium they’ve disassociated themselves from – but the Bees were in no mood to allow that to happen. A crowd of just 2,650, which included 900 fans from West London, provided a rather eerie backdrop to a game, which was more reminiscent of a Sunday league kick-around – but the impressive Bees turn-out tried hard to create an atmosphere from the end.
Brentford set out out stall, and apart from the first twenty minutes when Coventry came at us, as any home team would, they didn’t really bother us at all and the reds deserved their lead at the break which came from a move combining Logan, Grigg and Fillo followed by an air-kick from Christie to allow Donaldson to take advantage from close range. Further chances for Grigg, Donaldson and McCormack then went begging as the Bees continued to assert their domination on the game, but they were unable to improve on the score before the whistle.
In the second half, Brentford pretty much carried on where they left off. Forshaw was bossing the game in midfield and is clearly a player growing in stature and self-belief with every game he plays – the former Evertonian looks set to become one of the club’s all time greats if he carries this form on.
Coventry were on the back foot and looked there for the taking, as the Bees mounted wave after wave of attacks – McCormack, Fillo, Forshaw and Donaldson missed decent chances – although Richard Lee was called into action a few times as Coventry tried to get back into the game – but we never really looked under too much threat.
The return of Sam Saunders injected some much needed ‘Brentford passion’, his introduction turned the dial up a notch coming forward and he really got involved and made sure his presence was felt… he was everywhere. So it was no surprise that it was from an in-swinging Saunders corner resulted that Martin Taylor headed in for his second goal in three games for the Bees. Coventry had no response and Brentford ran out worthy 2-0 victors having dominated proceedings and, if truth, the visitors could have scored more.
This was a very big win for Brentford. After the Orient defeat, the chips were really down. The fans needed to see us back on track fast, and competing again with the better teams in the League. The players needed a result to keep their peckers up too, so this result, although patchy in places, was as good as you can get to a convincing, professional away victory.
The defence looked solid with Taylor at its heart – he may be on the slow side and not overly dextrous – but he’s an old fashioned centre-back who seems to have come in and done a solid job… and he scores goals.
In midfield, McCormack looked the combative general that we are becoming accustomed to, although he was struggling in the second half with his injury … It was a miracle he made it over the 80-minutes mark today. Diagouraga enjoyed his game in midfield and snuffed out up attacks and defended resolutely. Up front, Donaldson chased every ball, as did Grigg, despite wandering off-side a little too often.
And the stats tell the whole story this week – Brentford created 13 shots with 8 on target as opposed to Coventry’s 5 with only 2 troubling Richard Lee… Coventry created an unbelievable 50 chances over the previous two matches …. oh and we won!
Coventry manager, Steven Pressley, admitted, “We lost our way”, but, in reality, his team lost because Brentford took control of the game, in much the same way that Orient did after we gave away that silly penalty on Monday.
So great result. But a long way to go. Brentford now need to crack on and build upon this result. If we can put a run together, as we did last season in that period when we beat Swindon, Notts County and the rest in November/December… We’ll be right back on track.
Looking to next week, Jonathan Douglas looks like he might make the bench on Saturday against Rotherham, whereas Paul Hayes, who is seriously out of favour with the Brentford hierarchy, looks set to go out on loan … Stevenage were apparently sniffing around but maybe his old haunt Crawley are now more likely to snap him up, as they were apparently very interested in keeping hold of him last season after his loan spell.
And, with Bidwell back in a couple of weeks, maybe we’re edging closer to finally consolidating a regular team that can play together week in, week out throughout the Autumn months.
Coventry: Murphy, Christie, Adams, Webster, Thomas, Fleck, L. Clarke, Moussa, Barton (Manset 46), Wilson, J. Clarke.
Unused Substitutes: Burge, Phillips, Willis, Garner, Haynes, Rankin.
Brentford: Lee, Forshaw, Craig, Dean, Donaldson, Grigg (El Alagui 72), McCormack (Reeves 84), Logan, Fillo (Saunders 64), Diagouraga, Taylor.
Unused Substitutes: O’Brien, O’Connor, Teixeira, Trotta.
Referee: Carl Boyeson.
Attendance: 2,651 (including 914 Brentford fans)
BillytheBee
@billythebee99
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