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Brentford overcame the elements to rack up what could, at the end of the season, been seen as a very valuable point at relegation-threatened Shrewsbury in quite atrocious conditions.

It truth it was a real case of ‘get in, do the job and get out in one piece’ as the freezing, windy conditions made it too much of an unpleasant experience for both fans and the players to worry about niceties. If anything, most fans who spent time pre-match sampling the local ales in the town’s many medieval establishments were a bit gutted when it came to having to brave the cold as three o’clock loomed and leave the roaring fires behind.

However, despite the wintery gail, the pitched looked good, and back into the fold came Harlee Dean at the centre of defence, whilst Arsenal signee, Nico Yennaris, made his first starting at right-back. Adam Forshaw, had also made a recovery from his injury, took his place on the bench.

The strong wind made it really difficult for the Bees who, to their credit, tried to play ball-to-feet to combat the conditions. Shrewsbury in the mean time were happy to soak up the pressure, hoping for a Brentford mistake (very likely in the strong wind) before hitting the Bees on the break.

Both sides created a few chances in the first half – the best of the Bees chances falling to Trotta who played a little trick on the edge of the area before shooting just wide of the post. Atajić looked lively for Shrewsbury and had a couple of decent opportunities to give Salop the lead. But both sides were however unable to break the deadlock ending up going to the dressing room to munch on their half time cuppa all square.

HT. Shrewsbury 0 Brentford 0

The elements worsened during the interval, with the rain and wind increasing, but everyone we spoke to thought that Brentford would go on the rampage in the second half with the wind blowing in their favour – unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.

Forshaw came on for Yennaris five minutes into the second half – the young right back showed some good touches – but will still need a bit of time to adapt to full-on first team football. League One football is undoubtedly a big step up.

The Bees then started to take control of the game: dominating possession and creating good chances for Forshaw, Douglas, Judge and Trotta, who all went close to taking the lead.

Then, with a little over 20 minutes remaining, that the Bees got their break – Judge picked up the ball and made one of his trademark darting runs into the box after a great first touch – Ryan Woods was adjudged to have brought him down and the referee pointed straight to the spot. Shrewsbury fans thought the penalty was harsh, however, it was a clear pen from where we sat shivering and huddled like Emperor Penguins in the away end, and Brentford fans could argue that the referee missed other strong penalty shout in any case.

Despite his recent success from the spot against Gillingham, I doubt any Brentford fan will ever be 100% confident of Trotta taking a spot kick… and perhaps now Forshaw’s fit again, he should resume the role… Marcello stepped up and hit the ball to the right – the goalie saved the shot – but fortunately the young Italian was there to blast the rebound into the back of the net. Cue mad celebrations and a huge sign of relief.

The Bees then turned the screw with McCormack, Saville and Akpom all getting decent chances to increase the lead.

But as the clock ticked into extra time, Shrewsbury got ball into the area. The cross wasn’t cleared properly by the Bees’ defence and Eaves, who up until then had quite frankly been awful, struck an unstoppable shot that beat Button to even things up.

FT. Shrewsbury 1 Brentford 1

It shows how far we have come when fans walk away from the game disappointed that we only got a point. Maybe it was the manner of the draw, with the Bees having the tables turned in conceding a rare last minute goal. But on reflection, a draw was probably the fairest result.

What is more important is that we are still grinding out the results. Two years ago, we may have lost this game. But the class of 2013/14 has the resilience to continue soldiering on no matter what may be thrown at them.

The conditions didn’t help, that’s an understatement, but Brentford didn’t play particularly well in this match compared to recent games – but it was hard enough walking across the car park after the match, let alone playing stylish football. But Brentford were solid – and they still managed to get a crucial point on the board to increase the unbeaten league run to 18 matches.

With the top three teams seemingly thrashing it out amongst themselves for the two top slots, it looks more and more likely that the automatic positions will be decided by the results of the matches between the top sides. February’s clash with Wolves, and March’s clash with Orient, will be six-pointer ‘cup final’ as big as any we’ve experienced over the last decade or so.

Normally, because results rarely go our way, Brentford fans never relish these crunch matches, however, this season things are different. With the strength in depth of our squad, and the passion emanating from the players whenever they walk onto the pitch, fans are confident that we’re more ready for anything that the other teams can throw at us. Bring ’em on.

BillytheBee
@billythebee99