And there you go. Felled by the ultimate sucker punch. Brentford dominant but failing to capitalise on the plethora of half-chances, first half especially, that we created. Brighton offering little beyond stoic resistance, one wasted opportunity from Danny Wellbeck and a level of shithousery that looked as though they’d cloned Neal. Then, in the 90th minute, one moment of brilliance from Leandro Trossard. The Seagull opening up the Brentford defence like a can of sardines, Jensen watching and Pontus unable to connect with a lunging challenge as the visiting player curled a beauty past David Raya from the edge of the box and broke Brentford hearts. 1-0 Brighton. No complaints at all after a first defeat for the Bees. Very much a case of lesson learned about taking the chance when it comes. Winning games is about balls in the back of the net rather than deserving to win. Next up Wolves. Then Liverpool. Nobody said it would be easy.
Ok. The game. With Onyeka and Ghoddos both fit, the only change was Baptiste leapfrogging the pair of them to start in midfield. Kudos to Thomas Frank for this call. I thought Shandon was wonderful. Driving the team forward and spreading the ball out. A gutsy call to start him after so long out but a great one. The downside here being he visibly wilted later in the second half. Understandable, and not a dig at a player who had a great game, but we were saying in the stands that he needed to be switched out. It came ten minutes too late. That, combined with the addition of Jensen, rather than the flair of Wissa put the Bees on the backfoot and let our visitors back into a game they would eventually snatch. A most unThomas like tactic of settling for the draw rather than going for the win.
Had it ended 0-0 we’d have been happy. It could have ended with a win had we been a tad more fortune in front of goal. Ivan Toney with a quite delightful first half effort from 40 yards . A dinked chip that had no right to stay so flat from that distance floated agonisingly over the crossbar with goalkeeper Sánchez well off his line. It was an ‘if only’ moment to match his hitting the underside of the bar at Wembley and would have been a goal to rival his finish from the Janelt sky ball at Forest.
Alas, it wasn’t to be. But early on and with Brentford bossing the play, as much as the ref and opposition would allow them, chances came. Bryan moving in to the top forward position and finding himself with four opportunities of varying degrees. There’s one he might feel in retrospect he should have put away but at least the chances are coming. On another day we’d have been two or three up at half-time and romped it. That’s not how football works. Brighton managed the game quite magnificently from their perspective and made no mistake at the death when the door opened an inch. There was Trossard to boot it wide open and hoover up all three points.
In the end, a frustrating afternoon of coming so close. Brighton, as stingy in defence as we had gone into this game expecting. No inch offered. No quarter given. No goal scored. Brentford pressing but without that moment of good fortune or game changing genius to break them down. An early yellow card for Sergi put him on high alert and his ultimate removal from the field of play by Thomas probably no bad thing, on this day.
We can’t look back at this now without mentioning referee Graham Scott. Cripes, Graham Norton would have done a better job out in the middle and he’s a comedian. Mind you, so is Scott on that showing. The Albion players going down as easily as a sack of floor magnets (Harry’s choice of phrase and he’s only 8). Bournemouth levels of game spoilery. Yet instead of a Begovic meltdown and a Mepham red card we had an impotent referee and an opposition who played their game to perfection. Maupay at the end showing this to the fore, playing Ivan like a fiddle as we attempted to restart.
No complaints about that either, by the way. We loved this attitude when he was at Griffin Park. A leopard won’t change his spots and we knew to expect it. What came as more of a surprise was this approach running through the whole of Graham Potter’s team and the ref’s blind eye to the whole thing.
Perhaps it’s the Premier League. Perhaps we need to be more cynical. More shrewd. Play to the letter of the rules rather than the spirit of the game. Collapse like a felled domino to slow down the clock and disrupt the flow. Let’s not forget, either, that this was a third win out of four for Brighton. They’ve had a great start and this is why. Solid, solid work.
Still, no point crying over spilt milk. It was as devastating as it comes when the game ended yesterday. To run it so close and fall down on the line. For Brentford to look so promising but come away with nothing. It was hard but at least we remained competitive.
One thing’s for sure, if anybody was under any doubt as to how hard it’s going to be getting results at this level then perhaps this was the reality check we needed. Congratulations, Brighton. For Brentford, back to finishing school before the game with Wolves. After that, we’ve got Liverpool at Lionel Road. Anything less than 110% focus in our first game with a team of genuine title contenders (sorry Arsenal, but…) and it could be brutal. Get it right and it could be the stuff of legends.
We can’t change the disappointment but we can use all the positives. Now bring on Saturday. Bring on Wolves.
Nick Bruzon
BrentfordFC 
I think thats exactly what we took from the game. A harsh lesson in that if you dont take your chances at this level, you can get punished by just one moment of quality.
It was going to happen, but that good thing was it didnt happen till Game 4. A game we should have taken our chances, Bryan being the main culprit. Plus, there was one or two tired performances. Sergi still playing effectively out of position had a tough afternoon, and was rightly replaced by Roerslev. Unfortunately, its also inevitable that if Jensen is on the bench, he will come on, no matter what. Like you, i would have preferred Wissa or Forss to have come on. But none of anything helps with an incompetent referee-stoid at the helm. But then again I saw Stroud refereeing Swansea yesterday, and remembered where we have come from.
Also, a bit disappointed in those who booed Maupay. Not because of his outstanding contribution, of which we wouldnt be where we are now without, but because we all know that he feeds off the boos!! Playing right into his hands!
There is a lot to take heart from though, and still in the knowledge that we are going to be a tough team to beat at this level, and we are more than holding our own.
By the way, did anyone get Covid checked?? No evidence of it happening in the West Stand.