Brilliant Brentford beat Brighton, with first home win of the year enabling dreams of a fantastic finish to the season
- By Kaz Mochlinski
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 11 hours ago
Brentford (1) 4 v Brighton & Hove Albion (1) 2
Mbuemo 9
Welbeck 45+3
Mbuemo 48
Wissa 58
Mitoma 81
Nørgaard 90+5
By Kaz Mochlinski at the Brentford Community Stadium
Premier League
Matchweek 33
Brentford emphatically ended their agonisingly long spell without a home win by overcoming Brighton and Hove Albion 4-2 to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for next season’s European competitions.
Two goals from their leading scorer this season, Bryan Mbuemo, and one from the club’s all-time Premier League record-holder, Yoane Wissa, set up the Bees’ first victory at home of this calendar year.
Brighton hit back with a goal late on in each half to increase the anxiety levels of Brentford fans, but the visitors could not complete the comeback after going down to 10 men when João Pedro was shown a straight red card.
It was not until deep into stoppage time that Christian Nørgaard eventually made sure of a first Brentford win on their own ground since December 7th last year, when they had defeated Newcastle United by the identical score of 4-2.
Having been winless at home in nine matches in all competitions, including eight in the Premier League, it was entirely understandable that the Brentford head coach, Thomas Frank, led his players on a lap of honour afterwards.
“It was a fantastic and very important win,” acknowledged the delighted and relieved Frank. “I’m very happy that we were back to our best at our own ground. We were such a threat going forward, so dangerous, and just a pleasure to watch.
“The first 15 minutes of both halves were really fantastic to watch. The only negative is that I would have loved for us to have managed the last 30 minutes better and controlled it even more.
“It’s the Premier League, it’s not that easy to be 11 against 10, so I’m just happy we got over the line.”
Brentford cut open the opposition defence right from the outset, and Wissa could well have scored in the third minute when put clean through by Kevin Schade, only for Bart Verbruggen to make a fine save with an outstretched leg.
Not long later, Mikkel Damsgaard and Keane Lewis-Potter combined beautifully with a one-two in left midfield to send Mbeumo running clear on goal, and, unlike his strike partner earlier, this time he made it count.
Thereafter, Brentford were able to sit back and comfortably absorb all of Brighton’s plentiful possession, without being unduly threatened, until conceding an unexpected equaliser just on half-time.
Mats Wieffer crossed from the right for Danny Welbeck to head in at the far post, taking the veteran centre-forward to nine league goals this season, matching his previous best single campaign in 2013-14 for Manchester United.
1-1 had been a good result for Brentford in drawing at Arsenal last weekend, but on Easter Saturday there was disappointment at the same scoreline when going down the tunnel after a first half in which the Bees had mostly been in the lead.
The parity did not last long. Having scored in the ninth minute of the opening period, Mbeumo took only until the third minute in the second half to re-establish the advantage with a crisp strike from the right side of the penalty area.
After finishing his first with his right foot, Mbeumo got the second goal using his more-favoured left foot. The ball was deflected in off Lewis Dunk, and 10 minutes later it was again inadvertently diverted into the net by the Brighton captain.
Damsgaard was once more instrumental in doubling Brentford’s lead, with a superb pass down the right wing releasing Mbeumo to run and cross for Wissa coming in at pace to meet it with a first-time connection on the volley.
Wissa had provided the assist for Mbeumo to make it 2-1, and that was followed by Mbeumo in return playing in Wissa for 3-1. They are rapidly becoming the Premier League’s most potent forward pairing presently.
Mbuemo now has 18 league goals this season, and 40 in total in the Premier League. Wissa meanwhile has scored 16 times in the league this season, and in all he has 42 Premier League goals. Both have beaten Ivan Toney’s previous Brentford best of 36.
Brighton’s beleagueredness was increased in the 61st minute by the referee, Tim Robinson, sending off João Pedro, after the Brasilian kicked out backwards and directed an elbow to the head of Nathan Collins in a tussle for the ball.
The Seagulls could not complain about the decision, confirmed by VAR, which also denied two Brighton penalty appeals, one in each half, as Welbeck ran into Mark Flekken, and late on Dunk did a little light wrestling with Rico Henry.
Nevertheless, Albion unexpectedly found a little bit of hope, with the return of Kaoru Mitoma, who was brought on as a second half substitute after recovering from a recent heel injury, and quickly started to conjure chances to score.
With nine minutes to go, Jack Hinshelwood threaded through a pass for Mitoma to first-time cut left-footed across Flekken. The four and a half months without winning at home meant that Brentford became naturally nervous.
However, the Bees finally finished it with a fourth goal, to condemn Brighton to a fifth successive league game since they last won, in addition to having been knocked out of the FA Cup in the quarter-finals by Nottingham Forest.
Mathias Jensen sent in a free-kick from the right for Nørgaard rising at the far post to head into the net. Two headers in added time, one in the first half and another in the second, but with very different emotions for the Brentford fans behind the goal in the West Stand.
The three points bring the Bees closer to Brighton in the Premier League table, in 10th and 11th respectively, and keep alive the possibility of the West London club still being able to achieve something exceptional in the coming weeks.
In his customary warm and articulate manner, Frank summed it up very well: “We had to get over the line. For two reasons. One, we had to win at home, again. About time.
“And then, if we want to have any hope of European dreams or ambitions, we had to win today. Now there is five games to go. It’s an extremely interesting end to the season. Yeah, I’m looking forward to that.”
So is everyone associated with Brentford.
Brentford: (4-2-1-3) Flekken - Kayode (Ajer 69), Collins, van den Berg, Lewis-Potter (Henry 76) - Nørgaard, Yarmoliuk (Jensen 76) - Damsgaard (Janelt 87) - Mbeumo, Wissa, Schade (Konak 87 (Gustavo Nunes 90+16))
Brighton and Hove Albion: (4-2-3-1) Verbruggen - Wieffer (Adingra 89), van Hecke (Cashin 90+19), Dunk, Estupiñán - Baleba (Gómez 77), Hinshelwood - Minteh (March 65), O’Riley (Mitoma 65), João Pedro - Welbeck (Ayari 77)
Attendance: 17,083
The lap by the players around the pitch happens every home game, win, lose, or draw.