Brentford added another win to their recent haul against a hard working Gillingham team.
The game won’t be one that lives on in the memory bank for long, apart from Marcello Trotta bravely removing a penalty shaped monkey from his back.
The Sky cameras turned up at Griffin Park in the rain, accompanied by a healthy crowd of 7700 odd, many carrying placards supporting our proposed move to Lionel Road.
Brentford restored Logan to their starting XI with McCormack moving onto midfield and Judge pushing forward to replace Grigg. Judge was to have a lively night, and saw the first chance of the evening saved after good work from Donaldson.
Despite the deteriorating pitch Brentford tried to play cute triangular football although this almost backfired when Saville was robbed in possession on the edge of his box – fortunately Gregory’s shot from distance was fairly tame.
Stuart Nelson, who had a good game last night for the visitors, tipped a Judge 25 yarder over the bar but could do nothing to stop Brentford’s opener when Douglas prodded home an excellent Bidwell cross. Bidwell was a constant attacking threat last night, galloping down the left flank with panache.
Despite Brentford’s dominance, an intelligent run from Cody McDonald saw him emerge in the box with just Button to beat. The keeper stayed strong and McDonald dragged his shot wide, a very good chance spurned.
After half time Judge resumed his personal battle with Nelson with another humdinger tipped over the bar. He likes a shot does Judge. Nelson then made a great stop from Donaldson who had wriggled through onto a long ball to shoot on target – Clayton was a real handful throughout the match and remains a vital part of our team.
The game’s memorable moment came in the 70th minute when Adam Barrett hauled Tony Craig (playing with a broken hand, he’s a tough tough man) down in the box.
Up stepped Marcello, in front of a buzzing Ealing Road, to banish any leftover Doncaster demons and smash the ball into the bottom corner. A brave act by the young Italian who was mobbed by his team-mates
Gillingham, however, were not dead and buried and another diagonal run from McDonald took him behind our defence. Button almost stopped the shot but it bounced into the net. 2-1
Brentford substitute Akpom showed some neat touches and after some fancy footwork in the box fed Judge who whistled his shot over the bar – a good chance wasted.
Gillingham then carved open their third fine chance of the night when an Akinfenwa flick caught our defence flat – a superb stop from Button denying Jack Marriot to the delight of Mark Warburton.
The Bees had a good late chance too, Saville surging forward from midfield and feeding Donaldson who’s angled shot was saved by Nelson, eluding three Bees players at the back post.
On the balance of play it was a deserved three points although the chances created by Gillingham are a bit of a worry. With the pitch taking a battering last night and more rain forecast Tuesday nights game vs Bristol City is probably in doubt – which gives more recovery time to the absent Dean, Forshaw and Saunders.
It’s a great time to be a bee though. We’re Brentford FC, we’re top of the league.
Condorman
Bees – Button, Logan, Craig, Kev, Bidwell, McCormack, Douglas, Saville, Donaldson, Trotta (Akpom), Judge