Brentford 3 Nott'm Forest 2
Two teams met in London, in desperate need of a win. However, all the hype before the game was about the long-awaited return of Ivan Toney after his eight-month ban. Despite this, both sides were hungry for the three points to distance themselves from the bottom three.
It was a battle of ‘the charges’ at the Gtech Community Stadium. Toney had just finished serving his, while Forest waited to see what their penance would be for breaching ‘Profitability and Sustainability’ rules in the Premier League.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side made the perfect start, thanks to calamitous defending by Janelt, who twice skied the ball in the air like a Peter Kay John Smiths advert. As the ball dropped to Danilo, he calmly controlled it on his thigh before thundering a volley into the bottom corner of the goal.
It silenced the home faithful, who had not planned for this, as it was supposed to be the homecoming of Ivan Toney. The away end erupted as they started singing ‘Toney, what’s the score!’. As they say, he who laughs last, laughs loudest.
Credit: @NFFC
Brentford started to find their stride as Damsgaard broke free before being hauled to the ground, just outside the box. Toney stood over the ball. Here came what ‘That Peter Crouch Podcast’ would call, classic shithousery.
As the referee graffitied the pitch with his foam, Forest arranged their wall. Toney then moved the ball a foot to one side, before also rearranging said foam in front of the ball. He then side-footed his effort around the wall into the bottom corner of the goal to send The Bees’ fans wild.
The visitors protested to the referee but nothing was doing as Thomas Frank’s side levelled the game, thanks to their returning talisman. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. It seemed a shrewd move by the Brentford manager to make Ivan Toney his skipper for the game.
Brentford came close to taking the lead as Toney met a deep corner at the back post and as the ball dropped to Lewis-Potter on the edge of the six yard box, he turned and shot with venom but his effort ricocheted off the woodwork and came back out.
In the early stages of the second half Toney picked the ball up out wide and clipped it into the box. He perfectly picked out Lewis-Potter in front of goal but his effort was poor and easily saved by Turner. The Bees’ attacker was evidentially unable to cast his evanesce spell in this game.
Thomas Frank’s side seemed to have a different vibe about their attacking play in the second half. Whatever their manager had said, seemed to be working. As a corner was whipped in from Jensen, Mee met it to thunder a header into the back of the net.
Credit: @premierleague
The roof almost came off the Gtech Community Stadium, with the home fans thinking this result was written in the stars beforehand. No sooner than they had all sat back comfortably in their seats, Hudson-Odoi whipped in a cross for Wood to deftly glance into the bottom corner.
It seemed like the script was being torn up by the visitors. Forest continued to press and as the ball broke to Mangala, he cut across the ball, only to see his effort miss the upright by a matter of inches. At this point, it did not seem much of a concern.
As Toney then picked the ball up near the halfway line, he controlled it superbly, before spraying it out wide to Roerslev. The Danish fullback whipped a ball into the box, which was behind the striker, with the chance seemingly gone.
Maupay controlled it brilliantly, before swivelling to drill the ball into the bottom corner. The ground erupted as Brentford took the lead once again, three minutes after the visitors had drawn level. VAR reviewed it for a handball claim, but the goal stood.
Forest continued to knock on the door but it was like a Jehova’s Witness on their first day in the job. Their effort was lacking, almost a little gingerly, not wanting to disturb anyone. Thomas Frank’s side held on all for all three points, which took them six points clear of the bottom three and two places above their opponents.
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