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This felt like Christmas come early for the 2,000 Brentford supporters lucky enough to be the first to click through the turnstiles of their sparkling new stadium.
It was a day for family selfies, a day for smiles, waves and catch-up chats with old friends. No doubt quite a few enjoyed a few pints and a scotch egg as well. It was a first chance to establish new matchday rituals following the move from Griffin Park.
They didn’t go home too happy, though, as 10-man Blackburn Rovers snatched a late point having seen little of Brentford’s goal after Darragh Lenihan’s 37th-minute sending-off.
Jacob Davenport’s first goal for Blackburn saw Rovers head back to Lancashire with a point
Brentford’s fans generated a good atmosphere as they attended their first match since March
Jacob Davenport scored it, capitalising on Dominic Thompson failing to get enough purchase on a clearance. The ball was hooked back into the box, flicked on by Tyrhys Dolan and Davenport took a clever touch to control before finding the net with the aid of a deflection.
Rovers had led early on through Joe Rothwell’s fine strike but the complexion of their afternoon changed entirely when captain Lenihan, on a booking, recklessly brought down Ivan Toney in the box.
Toney converted the penalty and Brentford looked set to go just one point shy of the Championship summit when Sergi Canos smashed home just after the hour.
But Davenport pounced three minutes from time to ensure both sides’ unbeaten runs continued. Brentford’s to nine matches, Rovers’ to seven.
The red card left Rovers manager Tony Mowbray baffled – and critical of referee Oliver Langford.
‘Having been in the game since leaving school 40 years ago you know football and it’s sad sometimes that the guys in the middle don’t seem to know it well enough,’ he said.
‘We were frustrated. I’m not sure it was a sending off and it spoiled the game really. It was a good contest.
‘You can understand if someone is going through and gets dragged back or if it’s a poor tackle. It looked to me like two guys going for the ball, putting arms across each other, his guy goes down and he sends him off. It was a really poor decision and It had a massive impact on the game.’
His Brentford counterpart Thomas Frank was left frustrated by his team’s lack of a killer instinct.
Joe Rothwell wheels away after giving Tony Mowbray’s side a 19th-minute lead in west London
‘We didn’t play positively enough at 2-1. We needed to kill it with 11 players versus 10,’ said the Dane.
‘We were a bit too passive, we could have played more in their half and try and produce more chances. But if we had won 2-1, everyone would be happy at our game management.’
Spread out in two of the four stands, the 2,000 was much more like 10,000 when they got going. Even with face masks on, a group of football fans can make a fair din.
They certainly cheered when ‘Mr Brentford’ Peter Gilham, their matchday announcer of over 50 years, took to his microphone with pure emotion in his voice to introduce the home team.
They applauded to the echo when their team came out to warm-up and joined in with a stirring rendition of Hey Jude, one of the club’s anthems, before kick-off. Frank strolled down the touchline clapping them and they clapped back.
Naturally, they’d jeered when Blackburn emerged onto the pitch first. They urged and cajoled when those in red and white poured forward and cheered ironically whenever a visiting player skewed the ball out of play.
Ivan Toney bagged his 14th league goal of the season after Darragh Lenihan had been sent off
So after the long months without fans present, it was reassuring to see nothing had changed.
There was plenty to entertain them in the opening 45, which started positively for Rovers but had unravelled by the half-time whistle.
Mowbray’s team don’t hold back with their 4-3-3 system designed to attack and it wasn’t hard to see why they’re the division’s highest goalscorers from the opening minutes.
Inside the very first minute, Adam Armstrong’s long ball picked out Sam Gallagher inside the Brentford box. He knocked it back to Harvey Elliott, whose effort was blocked but came to Rothwell, who saw his shot deflected just wide.
The visitors were certainly worthy of their 19th minute lead. It came courtesy of brilliant individual skill from Rothwell and defending that was half-hearted to say the least.
Taking the ball from Elliott’s lay-off about 30 yards out in the right channel, Rothwell glided past three or four powderpuff Brentford challenges before curling a shot inside the near post from just inside the box.
Sergi Canos’ stunning strike then put Brentford in front before Davenport’s late intervention
It took the Bees almost half-an-hour to really get going and anxiety was starting to transmit from those in the stands. Marcus Forss turned the ball narrowly wide from a skimming Mathias Jensen corner, which offered some encouragement.
And the turning point duly arrived on 37 minutes. Toney was played clear in the box by a neat flick and Lenihan came across but found the Brentford striker too quick.
It was half-shove, half drag-back and Toney went to ground. Lenihan had already been booked and the crowd bayed for his dismissal. Langford appeared to flash the straight red anyway.
Toney is an assured finisher and slotted home the spot-kick with aplomb, his 14th goal of the season, drawing him level with his former Newcastle United colleague and Blackburn counterpart Adam Armstrong at the top of the Championship scoring chart.
Understandably, there was little sign of Blackburn’s bravado after half-time. It was often their nine outfield men behind the ball, goading Brentford to try and break them down. Emiliano Marcondes had the first crack of the second-half, shooting wide.
The fans-must-stay-seated rule went out the window when the ball bounced up sharply and appeared to strike Gallagher on the arm. Langford waved away the vocal appeals.
Bees fans left their new home for the first time with mixed feelings after Blackburn’s leveller
And they were certainly on their feet again a few minutes later when Canos put Brentford ahead with a classy individual goal.
The Spaniard collected the ball wide on the left, cut inside one Rovers defender then side-stepped another inside the box. His momentum was unstoppable and so was his strike, rising high past Thomas Kaminski into the net.
The hosts pushed for a third to make sure, with Josh Dasilva curling not far wide and substitute Bryan Mbeumo doing similar a few minutes later.
It didn’t come and they paid the price, with Rovers showing admirable resilience to steal a point.
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