The losing I can take. First and foremost, congratulations to Leicester City. Worthy winners in the FA Cup fourth round with plenty of gas in the tank to really take things to the next level when they were needed the second half. For forty five minutes Brentford had it in our grasp but, as with Swansea City a few season back, the half time cuppas worked wonders and a 1-0 lead dissolved quicker than the snow which had carpeted the pitch prior to kick off. That weather suggesting we may need to crack out the orange ball and the extra long studs. Alas not. We were stuck with the yellow variant (ball, not snow) and the possible leveller of inclement conditions disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. As did our cup dreams. Next up, a game with Brighton for the Foxes. For Brentford, we are now free to concentrate on the league (sorry, I’m too tired ) and that starts on Wednesday evening at the Liberty Stadium where there’s that huge showdown with second placed Swansea.

As for the cup, well Thomas mixed things up as predicted. A team that included Mads Roerslev and Fin Stevens at full backs along with Jan Zamburek in midfield took an early lead against equally changed opponents. Mads Bech Sørensen on hand to stab home a corner after just 6 minutes had passed. Dreamland for Brentford. A nightmare for Leicester City who, despite the lion’s share of first half possession can perhaps count themselves lucky to have only gone in one down based on chances created. Then again, with the Bees defence being stretched in the build up and Ethan Pinnock having to pull us together, the warning signs were there. Sure enough, the inevitable happened.
Ünder restored parity in, err, less than a minute. Perez cam close and again. Then Fosu was was adjudged to have tripped up Tielemans in the box. He picked himself up and there was no mistake from the spot. Within the space of six short minutes the lead had changed and Leicester were in the driving seat. Any hope of salvaging something was put paid to by James Maddison leaving us to play out the last tweet minutes or so two goals down and against a team who only got stronger as their bench players came on for a run out. Game over, man. Game over. Well played Leicester City – they really did look strong and what a way to step it up when needed. Good luck Brighton in the next round.
For Brentford, it had looked so good for a while but in the end was too much of a mountain to climb. No complaints, on pitch. We’ve more than had our share of fun in the cups this season. Of testing ourselves against opposition from the higher division. Off it, we had one major problem. That of Glenn Hoddle. My word, he spouts guff. The most annoying thing from BT since they replaced Busby with the ‘flatmates’. The flatmates that , I’m pretty sure from memory, used identity fraud as means of promoting the internet when the Simon ‘character’ tried online dating…. “He’s reeling one in“.

What a load of clichéd nonsense that man spouts. Glenn, rather than Simon. (ahh, hello Mr. Pot. Irony is alive and well on these pages). Amongst other things we discovered, several times, that :
Jamie Vardy isn’t playing.
It had been snowing (and there was still some on the pitch).
Brentford have beaten four Premier league teams this season.
Brentford lost to Spurs in the league cup semi-final.
We do clever recruitment.
We might have been playing this as a league match had it not been for something last season.
Both sides like playing decent football.
Yet the coup de grâce was saved for the fact that Brentford were, apparently, taking a risk by pushing up at set pieces. If Glenn mentioned it once he mentioned it a hundred times. In the end, domestic salvation came from our Harry. He’s only 7(seven) but still knows when enough is enough.
Glenn: Brentford taking a risk here. If Jamie Vardy was playing….
Harry : but he isn’t.
And with that, sanity was restored. Kind of. We’re out of the cup but no tears here. The quest for the W place in North London has been fun whilst it lasted but is now over. Let’s hope we don’t need to make a third attempt later on in the campaign. Getting three points as Swansea on Wednesday would be a huge step in that journey. It won’t be easy but I can’t wait to find out how we go…..
Nick Bruzon
Time to ring the changes ?
6 FebBrentford head to Leeds United on Saturday with the news that Warbs has missed out on his second manager of the month award in three months. Instead, as suspected, Aitor Karanka of Middlesbrough emerged as a deserved winner for January. His side’s 1-0 win at Brentford last weekend being the deciding factor (although, by all rights, that is a game that should probably still be under way given the amount of second half timewasting that took place).
To read the rest of this article, season 2014/15 is now available to download onto Kindle (and other electronic reading device) in full. Containing additional material and even some (poor) editing, you can get it here for less than the cost of a Griffin Park matchday programme or Balti Pie.
Thanks for reading and all your comments over the course of the season. For now, I need to make more space on the site for any follow up. However, ‘close season’ will continue in full, further on.
Could the one time ‘hottie of the year’ (right) see more action ?
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