Brentford 2- 1 Coventry City

Brentford made hard work of putting struggling Coventry to the sword last night but just sneaked the points with a last gasp Forrester penalty.

The first 25 minutes of the game was pretty much Brentford at their worst. They had completely forgotten about playing the ball on the ground and were constantly lumping it forward. Coventry had done their homework and closed down our full backs before the ball had even arrived at their feet, so Logan and Bidwell were always struggling to play anything more than long balls.

By the seventh minute Coventry were ahead. A ball over Dean's head saw the impressive McGoldrick break through the back line. After running into the box with the ball, Moore had no option but to come off his line and McGoldrick saw the faintest gap on the near post and slotted in well.

It took a while for the bees to settle but on 25 minutes Hayes flicked a beautiful ball through for Clayton, who dashed to the byline and crossed inch perfect for Harry at the back post who smashed it wide. That was pretty much Hayes only positive contribution to the game as many of his other flicks and passes were poorly judged and impossible for the ever eager Donaldson to get on to.

Once Brentford started to get in the groove and play the ball on the ground things improved. On 41 minutes the pass of the game from Forshaw opened the goal up for Harry who made no mistake beating the keeper. The teams went in at half time level but the bees should have been ahead after Hayes had headed the ball straight into the ground and up over the bar when it would have been easier to score. Mark McCammon at Loftus Road sprang to mind!

The bees improved again second half with some nice play from Forshaw, Logan and Clayton on the right constantly prodding and looking for openings and we made plenty of chances. It was that triumvirate that finally created the ball into the box to Spencer who played it on to Forrester who was tripped for a penalty.

Our current penalty scoring rate is abysmal but Harry smashed it home with aplomb.

We deserved it in the end but Coventry smashed the ball from 30 yards onto the inside of the post when the scores were level because no one thought to close the man down. That and the awful 25 minutes could have seen a very different result.

Forshaw, Logan and Dougie were class last night, Forrester's brace invaluable and some good, calm work from Craig. Unfortunately, Hayes had a bit of a 'mare and was cheered off when substituted. Personally, I'm not happy with that, I think you can just give the oncoming player a big cheer and get your point across. His replacement, the new-boy Spencer, looked very keen, confident, strong and happy to chase players down.


Moore; Logan, Dean, Craig, Bidwell; Forshaw, Dave (sub Adeyemi 88 mins), Douglas, Forrester; Hayes (sub Spencer 76 mins), Donaldson

Subs (not used): Lee, Legge, O`Connor, Barron, Dallas

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