A quick-fire double by Rovers, inside the first 10 minutes of the game, wasn’t enough to see off an inform Brentford side, as the West London outfit superbly managed to fight back from a 2-0 deficit to win 5-2, to increase their winning run to 7 games, whilst halting Rovers’ own unbeaten league run of 4 in the process.
Rovers named an unchanged team for the second time in a row as they headed to Griffin Park in the hope of making it 5 league wins in a row, for the first since last season, where they achieved 6 triumphs in a row between the end of November and the start of December.
With over 1,300 Rovers fans in attendance, the travelling support would have been hoping that the side could continue their brilliant run in order to enhance their side’s playoff prospects.
The travelling side, in their yellow attire, got the game underway with the support from the away end’s chants echoing around Griffin Park.
It took only 2 minutes for Rovers to begin the goalscoring, as Bradley Dack grabbed his 11th league goal of the season with a deft first-time finish. The build-up was started as the ball made its way out to Elliott Bennett on the right-hand side. The makeshift right-back then dribbled down the right-hand side, unchallenged, before feeding Adam Armstrong. The forward, who was out on the right wing, hit a first-time cross, which allowed Dack to side-foot the ball home, which gave Rovers an early 1-0 lead.
From the restart, Brentford piled forwards before forcing David Raya into a low save, which came from Saïd Benrahma’s curling effort, as the Spaniard’s left-hand denied Brentford and kept Rovers ahead.
After Rovers regrouped, following the Brentford attack, they soon found themselves 2-0 up, after a free-kick by Harrison Reed was expertly nodded into the top right-hand corner by Danny Graham. After Rovers earnt a free-kick, wide on the right-hand side, the on-loan Southampton man lofted in an inviting ball which was waiting to be attacked. Danny Graham duly obliged as he outjumped Ezri Konsa, before expertly directing Reed’s cross into the top corner of Daniel Bentley’s goal.
On the 13th minute, Brentford found a way back into the game as South African midfielder Kamohelo Mokotjo, French forward Neal Maupay and Algerian winger, Saïd Benrahma all combined well to make it 2-1. The French forward picked up the ball inside his own half, before exchanging passes with Benrahma. After receiving the ball back, Maupay played another one-two with Mokotjo, before curling the return ball into the bottom corner, past the sliding Jack Rodwell and the diving Raya to reduce the deficit.
The next chance came to Rovers, on the 21st minute, as Danny Graham did well fashion a shot from the edge of the box, that creeped wide of the target. A sound run by Amari’i Bell down the left-hand side, saw the full-back attempted cross, only cleared as far as Graham, who hit a fierce strike into the ground. Although the intent was good, the bounce took all the momentum out of the strike, as it bounced behind for a goal-kick.
10 minutes later, Adam Armstrong nearly made it 3-1, but for the intervention of Rico Henry. From a Rovers throw-in, Reed collected the ball and drove forward, before laying it off to Graham to cross. The forward delivered in an early ball aimed at Armstrong, which the striker managed to reach. Although the angle wasn’t the best, he managed to connect with a right-footed effort which looked destined to bounce beyond Bentley at the near-post and nestle into the far-post. Despite Armstrong’s attempt, Rico Henry was on hand to block the attempt away and behind for a Rovers corner.
The resulting corner gave Jack Rodwell the chance to get 2 goals in as many games, however despite being unmarked in the centre, he was unable to keep his attempt down.
On the 34th minute, Benrahma nearly put his side back on level terms whilst nearly embarrassing David Raya in the process. A wide free-kick by the Algerian, saw his whipped cross angle towards goal, which left Raya scrambling, before he was able to tip it behind for a corner, which led to another opportunity for the Bees.
The corner saw the ball fall to the home side’s captain, Romaine Sawyers. The former Walsall man’s effort however, ballooned over the crossbar.
As half-time loomed, referee Andy Davies called for 3 minutes to be added on.
During the final minute of the additional time, Rovers earnt a free-kick after Yoann Barbet – who was subsequently booked – caught Bradley Dack with a late challenge, that forced the midfielder off the pitch for the rest of the half. Soon after play was restarted, Adam Armstrong’s well-struck free-kick had Bentley scrambling, before the 25-year old goalkeeper palmed the ball behind for a corner, which only led to the half-time whistle.
During the break, Brentford boss Thomas Frank would have been laying into his team, following their poor opening 10 minutes. Despite his disappointment following their conceding of goals in quick succession, the former Brøndby manager would have been encouraged by his side’s reaction.
Tony Mowbray, however, would have been cautious with his team-talk. The manager would have been re-highlighting the threat of Brentford, whilst also making it aware to his players, that dropping off, despite their lead, would be unacceptable, due to Brentford’s quality.
Prior to the start of the second 45 minutes, Brentford withdrew Rico Henry and replaced him with Moses Odubajo.
When the sides re-emerged for the second-half, the home side took the kick-off in the hope of being able to turn the game around and extend their unbeaten run to 7 games.
2 minutes into the half saw Ollie Watkins test David Raya. From Benrahma’s free-kick, the ball deflected to the 23-year old, whose first-time stab at goal was well saved by the Spanish shot-stopper.
On the 50th minute, Rovers’ had a free-kick of their own, as Reed and Dack combined to set up Darragh Lenihan. Reed passed to Dack, from the free-kick, who chipped the ball into Lenihan’s path. The defender however, saw his nod towards goal fall straight into the open arms of Bentley.
Less than a minute later, Maupay who was through on goal, released 2 attempts at goal within 30 seconds of each other. The first was saved by Raya, before the second was stabbed into the side-netting.
With 52 minutes gone, both Danny Graham and Bradley Dack signalled that they could no longer continue, due to injuries, which led to the introduction of both, Joe Nuttall and Craig Conway, respectively.
Soon after the substitutions, Benrahma again tested David Raya with a free-kick, but the Spaniard once again denied the Algerian his second of the game.
It didn’t take long for Brentford’s pressure to finally pay off as Watkins drew his side level following a Benrahma free-kick, on the 58th minute. The home side had a set-piece on the far left-hand side of the stadium, shooting towards the Rovers fans. The Algerian took a short free-kick by simply laying the ball off to Watkins, who, unchallenged by any Rovers player, took a shot, which rifled into the bottom right-hand corner of Raya’s goal, as the scores were drawn level at 2-2.
4 minutes after the goal, Ben Brereton was introduced in-place of Corry Evans, who also had seemingly picked up a knock.
Just after Brereton’s introduction, fellow substitute Joe Nuttall had a great chance to put Rovers back ahead but couldn’t sort out his feet quick enough. Nuttall ran onto Bennett’s cross from deep, but the forward couldn’t angle his body in order to get a shot away, quick enough, as Bentley claimed the loose ball.
After 70 minutes had gone, Armstrong and Brereton combined well as the former was seemingly fouled in the box, however Mr. Davies waved away Rovers’ claims for a penalty.
A minute later, Darragh Lenihan was booked for a high challenge on Brentford’s second goalscorer, Ollie Watkins.
Watkins again managed to haunt Rovers, 2 minutes after he was cropped by Lenihan, as he capitalised on Raya’s goalkeeping error and Rovers’ poor defensive shape, to head his side into the lead for the first time in the game. Rovers were dispossessed in their own half on the transition, which allowed Brentford to counter. The ball made its way out to Maupay, who had beaten Rovers’ backline, who were situated just behind the halfway line. The Bees’ top goalscorer dribbled down the left-hand side, before cutting in onto his right-foot and releasing a shot that deflected into the air. The deflected effort which came down with a lot of spin, saw Raya, Reed and Watkins go up to challenge for it, with the Brentford man emerging victorious, as he guided his nod into an empty net to turn the game onto its head and take a 3-2 lead.
On the 75th minute, Conway nearly found himself through after a ball by Reed narrowly evaded the midfielder. A skilled through ball by Reed was angled into the path of a diagonally running Conway, who was onside. Despite evading the offside trap, the Scot couldn’t stretch far enough to get the ball under his control, as it rolled into the hands of the Bees’ ‘keeper.
The game soon turned sour for Rovers, as the relatively quiet Neal Maupay managed to get himself on the scoresheet with a ‘customary’ goal. Benrahma picked up the ball inside Rovers’ half and drove towards the box before passing to Watkins, who passed to Sawyers. The Bees’ captain took a touch before sliding the ball into Benrahma, who deftly flicked the ball behind him, into Maupay’s path, as Rovers’ defence stood bamboozled. The former Saint-Étienne forward took a touch with his left-foot to move into space and steer the ball away from Rodwell, before finishing underneath Raya with the same foot to make it 4-2 and seemingly end the contest.
After the goal, Brentford made their second change of the game as Saïd Benrahma, who was the best player on the pitch by a mile, was given a standing ovation as he made way for Sergi Canós.
Rovers, however, continued to try and force their way back into the game, as Joe Nuttall had a shot from inside the area blocked by Julian Jeanvier after 82 minutes, despite having options such as Brereton, who were in a much better position, to pass to.
3 minutes after Nuttall’s attempt, the home side made their final change during the closing stages of the game, as Mokotjo was removed and replaced by former Chelsea midfielder, Josh McEachran.
After 4 minutes of added time were allocated onto the end of the second period, Brentford couldn’t resist on grabbing a fifth goal to make it 5-2 and really compile the misery onto Rovers and their loyal travelling support. The move was started following a turnover in possession as Canós exchanged passes with Watkins to get beyond Rovers’ weary backline, before firing the ball past the on-rushing Raya, to seal the game off.
To add insult to injury, prior to the full-time whistle, Rovers had to see out the remaining couple of minutes with 10 men, as Darragh Lenihan withdrew from the game due to injury, which summed up Rovers’ deteriorating afternoon.
Soon after Lenihan’s disappearance down the tunnel, referee Andy Davies blew for full-time and ended a game which Rovers, had they not succumbed to injuries, could and should have emerged victorious from.
In a complete contrast to last week’s ‘best performance of the season’, there’s not much that can be said regarding today’s collapse that would sneak Rovers out of criticism, other than the fact that Brentford were brilliant. Although Thomas Frank’s side have now moved into a 7-game unbeaten run, the side situated in 18th before kick-off were there for the taking, despite being at home, due to Rovers’ great start to 2019. Although the opening 10 minutes were sublime, Rovers’ underlying defensive frailties soon appeared, which after a hattrick of league clean sheets, was disappointing to see.
A subtle – although controversial – bright-spark to today’s game – after the Rovers goals – was Ben Brereton, who despite coming on at 2-2, showed signs of his directness with the ball and his link-up play with Armstrong, which, on one occasion, should have resulted in a penalty after the number 7 was fouled. Although many have slated the 19-year old for his ‘lack of goals’, his cameo today was somewhat encouraging, and had Nuttall passed to him instead of shooting on the 81st minute, the teenager could well have opened his account.
With that disappointment behind us, here’s hoping that the injuries to Dack, Graham, Evans and Lenihan aren’t overly serious, which can allow the lads to rebound in their next game.
After slowly distancing ourselves away from that catastrophic collapse, the league table looks a lot less attractive than it did at 12pm this afternoon. Rovers have slipped down to 11th, with 43 points and a -4-goal difference from their 30 games played.
As alluded to, the next game Rovers participate in, sees the arrival of playoff-occupying Bristol City at Ewood Park, at 3pm on Saturday, 9th February. After that, Mowbray’s men head down to Berkshire to face José Manuel Gomes’ Royals on Wednesday, 13th February at 7:45pm. The third game, after today sees Tony Mowbray’s supported team, Middlesbrough, make the trip down to Ewood Park on Sunday, 17th February at 1pm, as Boro look to enhance their chances to secure a playoff place with a victory against the Blues, live on Sky Sports.
