Frustration as Bees let three points slip again (From Sutton Guardian)

Frustration as Bees let three points slip again

10:44am Monday 23rd November 2009

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Brentford 1 (Strevens 11) Walsall 1

After being the more impressive side in the first half, Brentford let the Saddlers back into the game during the second as the sides played out a draw at Griffin Park on Saturday.

With the two sides due to face each other again at Griffin Park in the FA Cup next Saturday, both managers will have learned much from this encounter.

The Bees – playing with all three recently signed loanees – were much the brighter side during the opening exchanges and will have been disappointed not to have taken all three points.

Throughout a second half played largely in heavy rain, chances were scarce for both sides. Brentford’s momentum stalled when Myles Weston was forced to go off with a suspected pulled hamstring and Walsall grabbed an equaliser midway through the half.

Bees’ boss Andy Scott was frustrated his side failed to take all three points: “We are five points behind Walsall but it didn’t really tell. We’ve got to finish games off.

"We’ve got to have a ruthless streak and continue doing what we do to get us into that position in the second half and we didn’t quite do that.”

Scott gave debuts to Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and centre half Pim Balkestein, signed on loan this week from Arsenal and Ipswich respectively.

Fellow loanee John Bostock returned on the right of midfield and Karleigh Osborne kept his place at the heart of the defence.

Brentford took the lead less than a quarter of an hour into the game when Bostock picked out Weston on the left wing and his cross to the back post was headed home by Ben Strevens.

Immediately after going ahead the Bees had a chance to extend their lead when the impressive Weston raced free but he failed to square the ball to Charlie MacDonald and was tackled inside the box by Rhys Weston.

Marcus Bean almost doubled the lead on the half hour mark when he broke free through the middle but was foiled by a good tackle from Netan Sansara.

MacDonald then did well down the right hand side to set up Bostock, but he blazed over from 25 yards out.

As half-time approached Walsall launched a quick break and after Mark Bradley was fouled on the edge of the ‘D’, Matt Richards free kick was deflected behind off the wall.

Early in the second half Troy Deeney nicked the ball off Ryan Dickson and shot wide of the right hand post from the edge of the box.

As Walsall came back into the game Darren Byfield did well to escape James Wilson and his low shot across the face of goal was well held by Szczesny.

Walsall drew level when Brentford failed to deal with a ball that bounced around the midfield and after it was played forward into the Bees’ box Steve Jones reacted quickest and fired home a left footed shot.

Neither side looked capable of grabbing the winner as the game drew to a close.

Brentford thought they had won it when Strevens headed home a cross from the left with only two minutes remaining, but it was disallowed for offside.

So after the Bees visit Wycombe in midweek, the sides will do it all again in the cup next weekend.

Brentford: Szczesny; Wilson, Osborne, Balkstein, Dickson; Bostock, Bean, O’Connor, Weston (sub Wood 53); MacDonald (sub Kabba 78), Strevens

Subs (not used): Moore, Bennett, Taylor, Hunt, Foster

Attendance: 4,492

Goals: Strevens 11

Man of the match: Myles Weston

Match rating: 3/6

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