Brentford 2 Newcastle 4
Thomas Frank’s side welcomed Newcastle to the Gtech Community Stadium. The home fans wondered whether they would be watching talisman Ivan Toney for the last time in a Brentford shirt. Nick Pope returned from injury for the visitors.
Brentford thought they had taken the lead when Mbuemo did well out wide before picking out Toney in the box. He showed his calmness under pressure as he lifted the ball past the keeper and into the back of the net. The Bees were to be denied however as VAR ruled the effort out for offside.
Newcastle almost took the lead after some good work from Isak down the right wing. He fed the ball into Joelinton at the back post who side footed it wide of the target. If you were a betting man, which Ivan Toney no longer is, you would have put your house on him scoring.
The Magpies did not have to wait long to break the deadlock. As a cross was lifted into the box, Barnes met it with a solid header into the top corner of the goal. It knocked the wind out of Brentford, who had felt they should have been in the lead themselves.
Credit: @NUFC
A terrible mistake from Pinnock saw him let the ball beat him on the halfway line. Isak ran onto it and put in a perfect cross to the back post for Murphy to slot home. This game was starting to get away from Thomas Frank’s side, they needed to stop the rot.
Things went from bad to worse as Guimaraes played the ball into Isak. The clinical finisher took a touch before drilling his shot into the far corner of the goal. In the space of two minutes Newcastle had seemingly put this game beyond their hosts.
As the teams headed off for the interval, Thomas Frank must have read the riot act to his team. Immediately after the restart, Janelt received a pass from Wissa and slotted home to give The Bees’ fans hope of a dramatic comeback.
Moments later a great cross picked out Toney in the box. His bullet like header was clawed out of the goal by Pope. It was the sort of save that could prove crucial with Brentford believing they could find a way back into this game.
That confidence was boosted when Wissa bent a brilliant shot past Pope from the edge of the box. As it curled around the keeper, there was very little he could do to keep that one out. The home fans truly believed they were about to witness a monumental comeback.
All hope of that was extinguished when Hall went down in the box. Initially the referee awarded a penalty but after a VAR review, the decision was changed to a free kick as the contact was initiated just outside the penalty area.
Credit: @NUFC
Isak stepped up to take it and Flekken got down well to make a save. Sadly for The Bees it was Guimaraes who reacted quickest as he slotted the rebound home. The goal gave Eddie Howe’s side some breathing space to hold on for the win.
Providing Man City win the FA Cup final, Newcastle will have secured European football once again. For Brentford, they will be happy in the knowledge that they will be playing Premier League football again next season. At one point that was in serious doubt.
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