LFL: BRENTFORD (CUP)
I really enjoyed this game and we won it with a devastating fifteen-minute spell in the first-half. Brentford made it very competitive and brought on five first choice players later on but we held on to get through to the next round and send the crowd of over 24,000 home happy.
BEFORE
I know that some of us don't hold this competition in high regard but I think it's worth winning and I'll be at the game hoping for a win and further progress. I like the sound of a quarter-final. By the way, my ticket, as an over-65 year-old, was £11.50. There are bound to be a number of changes from Sunday and it'll give some players whom we don't see too often a chance for a run out, including Talbi. It looks like Meunier will play for at least some of the game. If Thiago's playing for them, then he'll be a danger as ever. I think we'll get through the tie but I can see it going to penalties.
I called in at ALS on the way to the ground and got the team news. There were wholesale changes with none of Sunday’s starting eleven in the line-up. So, the team was Ellborg, Browne, Danso, Alderete, Methalie, Diarra, Ahoka, Talbi, Fofana, Jocelin and Tutierov. O’Nien, Meunier and Rigg were among the subs. Brentford too were fielding a much-altered side but ominously Thiago was starting.
I was in my seat in the Upper East Stand at 7.20 and there was a fair sprinkling of supporters around me but most of the upper tiers were unoccupied apart from a small section for the Brentford fans. I enjoyed watching Talbi’s great chipped goal against Hull among others on the big screen while some great songs belted out. Incidentally none of my friends wanted to come to the game. Talbi’s name was greeted with much approval when the team was announced. I’d say there were less than 20,000 in the ground as we kicked off.
THE MATCH
We were awarded a free-kick on the left in the second minute which resulted in Alderete heading down for Ahoka to have a shot. It went well wide but was appreciated. We were doing most of the pressing but in the seventh we conceded a free-kick in a dangerous spot midway in our half. Brentford managed a header on target but Ellborg had it well-covered. Brentford looked dangerous when they got down our right and put crosses in but so far Thiago hadn’t threatened. Diouf was looking a right handful. We were passing it around coolly at the back and Alderete had looked strong and decisive. Brentford put together a good move down our right in the sixteenth and fortunately for us Thiago’s poked shot was just wide of our right post. Brentford soon won their first corner and their fans, around two hundred in number, piped up. From the corner they hit the woodwork a least once and an effort was cleared off the line before referee Gavin Ward blew for a free-kick to us. We’d lost the momentum but around the twentieth we perked up and our fans really got going for the first time. Ellborg made a great flying save a few minutes later and we survived the resultant corner but Brentford were looking a lot more dangerous than us when they went forward.
Brentford soon had another corner but next thing we were in the lead. We broke quickly and despite it seeming to take an eternity for the ball to get across to the right, it got there and Talbi scored from very close range after Valdimarsson in goal had blocked our first effort. A few minutes later it was 2-0 and Tutierov blasted it in from close range after Jocelin (or is he Ta Bi?) had done well to get a low pass in from the right. I hadn’t seen that coming five minutes earlier. We kept up regular pressure but Brentford also looked like they could nick one so I felt there’d be another goal or two. Very soon it was 3-0 and it was Jocelin again who put in a high cross from the right that was headed in by Fofana. Brentford pulled one back in the forty-second and Wilson got it, blasting it in off the underside of the bar following a pass from Janelt right on the goal-line. That got the away fans going a bit after a long lay-off. Brentford were ploughing forward as half-time approached and we managed to scoop another chance away to safety. I could see it ending 5-4. Two minutes of added-time were announced and the last real action of the half was Jocelin again putting in a dangerous cross that Valdimarsson blocked. There was great applause as the whistle went and it had been a very entertaining half. We’d gone through a wobbly period half-way through but had bounced back very well and then Brentford showed that they sill had plenty of fight in them. To add to my good mood, ‘Tinseltown in the Rain’ by The Blue Nile was played over the p.a.
There was one change as we kicked off again with Rigg on for Diarra. Could there be another goal-fest in this half? That usually doesn’t tend to happen but I could see one more goal coming. If Brentford got it, then things would get very interesting. In the fifty-fourth Alderete went down clutching his face after a connection with Thiago and had to receive some attention though he was able to carry on. The two lads on my left didn’t return after half-time – maybe they were bored? It took ages for the ref to allow Alderete back on the pitch and this didn’t go down well. In the fifty-ninth Brentford made a triple switch, one of those going off being Wilson who’d been booed every time he got the ball. We made two changes at the same time, with Tutierov and Alderete being replaced by Meunier and O’Nien to much applause all round. Brentford soon had a corner but the whistle went and the danger was over, for now. Rigg had a great opportunity to score in the sixty-fourth but he took too long to shape up for his shot and then scuffed it.
As we entered the final quarter the game was even enough and there were chances coming for both sides. Brentford failed to capitalise on another corner and then in the seventy-first they made their final two changes bringing on two more first choice players. So, I was expecting an arses-to-the-wall conclusion to the game. Next thing Janelt got the first yellow-card of the game. There was some desperate defending in our box before Hickey shot not far over but at least the clock seemed to be ticking away quickly. With about ten minutes to go Talbi was replaced by Proctor and he received a loud ovation. Proctor got stuck in immediately and I liked his number – 77. There was another booking, this time for Schuster, as we broke rapidly following a header off our line. Jocelin was doing some wonderful stuff over on our right wing and he surely deserves a sub’s appearance at least in the near future. The game was getting rough and O’Nien went down in the eighty-fifth, but of course he got up again. Two minutes left and it looked like Brentford were running out of time but there was bound to be a good deal of added-time. Rigg was booked and that resulted in a free-kick just to the right of our box that skidded off the roof of our net. Five minutes of added-time were announced. Thiago powered in a header in the ninety-fourth and to make it 3-2 so we had a minute or two to sweat. We then brought on Scott for Jocelin. We held out and there was much applause all around me as the game ended.
