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Ten man Brentford had to fight to cling on for a solitary league point against twelve man Leyton Orient at a chilly Griffin Park last night.

The  Bees were unable to get to grips with Orient’s star man Paul Tierney throughout the evening, with the man in the middle a constant source of frustration and inconsistency.

The weather had caused a power cut to both scoreboards and one set of floodlights, which also appeared to reduce the energy of some of the men in red and white on the pitch.

Adam Forshaw should have put Brentford ahead inside the first minute, shooting wide after latching on to a poor backpass, but instead it was the visitors who took the lead in unbearable fashion through a Martin Rowlands freekick. To be fair to the badge kissing judas it was a scorcher of a set piece – but his decision to  run the entire length of the pitch to celebrate was somewhat unpalatable.

Brentford seemed to be struggling to get out of first gear with a number of players guilty of sloppy play and a slightly reduced level of effort – the Chelsea game was definitely on people’s minds last night. It sometimes felt like we were watching a training match, particularly in the first half.

Despite our comparative ineptitude we still managed to go into the interval with a 2-1 lead, with Hayes and Donaldson both prodding home from close range following corners.  We had other chances too – Craig and Dean with headers – whilst Simon Moore produced a cracking save from Mooney.

Brentford improved after the break and should have had a stonewall penalty for handball in the box but neither Tierney or his linesman decided to intervene. Seconds later Orient keeper Jones made a fantastic diving save to deny Donaldson’s close range volley. The Bees were on top and a woeful chipped effort from Paul Hayes, reminiscent of Geoff Thomas for England, was smiled at rather than bemoaned by the home support.

At this stage Tierney decided to get a proper grip on the game. Jake Bidwell had earlier rightly been booked for kicking the ball away but after an innocuous looking foul on the centre circle was given his marching orders for a second yellow – despite a number of similar or worse fouls going unpunished throughout the evening. Young Jake will now miss the Chelsea game on Sunday and was reported to be in tears after the match.

Orient started to seize the advantage and Moore made another smart stop before Rosler brought Barron, Logan and Diagoraga on to try and hold on for three points – Clayton Donaldson cutting a lonely and often unsupported figure up front. The dislikeable  Tierney then awarded the visitors a penalty after former Bee Charlie MacDonald backed in to Hodson and fell to the floor whilst swivelling to shoot but Moore again denied Mooney.

Tierney used this clear breach of his justice as an excuse to give pretty well every decision to Orient from that point onwards and eventually the pressure paid – Lee Cook hitting a vicious swerving shot from 22 yards for the equaliser.

The over-riding feeling after the game was of points dropped in our promotion hunt but we could look at it as a point gained in an adverse situation. Many supporters were sorry not to see the talismanic Harry Forrester enter the fray last night with Uwe’s substitutions stiffening our resolve but not seeking a third goal.

And so we finally move on to Sunday where Griffin Park will be under the glare of the media spotlight as Brentford face European Champions Chelsea in the FA Cup. Whilst fans and players will dream of a famous scalp they will also be hoping that we just do ourselves justice – we need the Bees that whalloped Southend last week to turn up, rather than the Brentford of last night.

Bees – Moore, Craig, Dean, Hodson, Bidwell, Forshaw, Saunders (Dave), Adeyemi (Barron), Donaldson, Hayes (Logan)
Unused Bees – Lee, Kiernan, Trotta, Forrester

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