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One of the main conversation points among Bees fans after Brentford’s defeat at Stamford Bridge yesterday was the lack of noise generated by the home support.  Watching back the highlights on TV afterwards, time and time again it was the noisy 6,000 in the Shed End that could be heard, whilst the overwhelming majority of 34,000 Chelsea-ites seemed only to get briefly animated around their goals.

There are probably are some reasons for this – like it or not it was a “big game” for us whilst for home supporters it was a largely unwanted cup replay against a lower division side. We’ve ourselves probably struggled to get animated over this sort of fixture- I don’t remember the Griffin Park roof being lifted, for example, when we scored our fifth against Camberley Town.

There also appeared to be a number of part-time Chelski supporters visible yesterday – I was amazed at the amount of people wearing “half and half” scarves, which I suspect were to celebrate the fact that they had actually made it to Stamford Bridge rather than watching MOTD in a replikit, and not reflective of the fact they had finally got to witness Brentford in person. The three Chelsea season ticket holders that I know had all sold on their seats for differing reasons – and as we know from our visits to Wembley and the Millenium Stadium, more casual fans simply make less noise.

A final factor could be the lack of support for current Chelsea boss Rafa Benitez – to a limited extent some Chelsea fans would have rather suffered a loss yesterday than face months ahead under the stewardship of the Spaniard. Ambramovic might also agree with this – his guest at the ground yesterday was apparently Avram Grant.

On the plus side, we did generate some fantastic support for our players and should be proud – Uwe Rosler was quick to mention the noise generated in his post match interviews. For me the highlight of yesterday was hearing a deafening chant of “we are going up” just after the Chelsea fourth – a noise generated by pride in our team and belief in their ability to get out of League One this season, defiant in the face of yesterday’s eventual cup defeat.

It was great to take 6,000 to Chelsea – now let’s hope we take a decent number home and away for the next 15 games and cheer our team over the line. We didn’t get to celebrate after the final whistle yesterday, but a promotion party is still within our grasp.

Condorman

 View post-match Bees fan video reaction here