18 August 2024
Brentford 2 Crystal Palace 1
The big news at the Gtech Community Stadium came with the team announcements. Ivan Toney was left out of the matchday squad with Thomas Frank clearing up matters in his pre-match interview. He said there had been an offer for him and he didn’t feel it was right for him to play a part in the opening game. It also gave the visitors Crystal Palace a timely boost just before kick-off.
Palace started positively and created the first chance of the game when Mitchell had a volley in the box which deflected narrowly wide of the goal. The Bees then conceded a free kick right on the edge of the box. Eze stepped up and bent his effort around the wall with Flekken scrambling as it just missed the far post. Early warning shots by Oliver Glasner’s side.
Thomas Frank’s team gave another silly set piece away, this time in a wide position. Eze stood over it with everyone expecting a cross into the box. Instead, he went for goal and stuck it in the top corner. Sadly for the visitors, the referee’s whistle immediately went for a foul by one of his teammates in the melee in the penalty area. The Eagles could have been three-nil up in no time at all.
Brentford came forward down the right with Mbuemo. As the defenders stood off him, he ran towards the box and checked onto his left foot. Having given himself a yard of space, he curled a shot into the far corner to put the hosts one-nil up from their first attack of the game. The fans went wild as they almost started to forget about their missing forward.
Wissa then spotted the run of Mbuemo and looked to thread a pass through the eye of a needle. The defender intercepted but the winger then dispossessed him. He played a neat pass in behind Crystal Palace and Roerslev made the run to meet it. Only a good block by Henderson denied him The Bees’ second goal of the game.
Going behind seemed to rock The Eagles and they struggled to create any more chances. The only glimpse of goal they had was when Mateta looked to take the ball around Flekken. He went down looking for a penalty but as the replay showed, it was a good decision. The Brentford keeper got his fingertips to the ball as the striker looked to take it around him.
Into the second half and the visitors forced a corner. It was rolled to Wharton on the edge of the box whose shot took a huge deflection and wrongfooted Flekken. Fortunately for Frank’s side, it dropped the wrong side of the post. It would have been a cruel blow to see that one nestle in the net. It did however show that the visitors were not here to just make up the numbers.
The Palace defensive midfielder has got some shot on him also. He tried his luck again from outside the box with a well-struck left footed effort which was arrowing to the bottom corner of the goal. Brentford’s keeper got down to make another crucial save and more importantly, protected their slender lead in the game. It was going to take something special to beat him on this form.
Cue the famous commentator’s curse. As a deep cross was lofted into the back post, it was headed across goal and Pinnock diverted it into his own net to give Palace the lifeline they needed. You can never quite understand what is going through a player’s head when they send one into their own net but it certainly silenced the home faithful.
Glasner’s side thought they had taken the lead when Edouard tucked the ball under Flekken to score. He was adjudged to have strayed into an offside position but it would have been nice to see those lines as it looked an incredibly tight decision. The Eagles were on the front foot now and dominating the game, Brentford seemed to have no answer to them.
Wharton then tried his luck again from the edge of the box. While he struck it with some venom, it was always too close to The Bees’ keeper to beat him. He opted to punch it clear just to be safe. His team broke down the other end and Mbuemo almost slotted Wissa in but Henderson was quick off his line to get there first and clear it.
Another attack by the hosts saw Mbuemo swing the ball into the box and Lewis-Potter turned and shot. His effort deflected enough to take the ball past the scrambling Palace keeper for Wissa to tap in at the back post. The Gtech Community Stadium was bouncing once again. This time they needed to ensure that they held on for all three points with a little under fifteen minutes remaining.
The visitors still managed to carve out more chances with the pick of the bunch falling to Ayew. As Eze played the ball over the top, he looked to divert it into the goal on the volley but missed the target. That seemed to be the chance for them to grab a point from this game. Brentford held firm and took all three points. It seemed an important win for Frank’s side, even this early in the season.
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