Firm Forest draw Bees' sting to ruin Frank's near-perfect home record

Picture by YT Journo

Brentford (0) 0

Nottingham Forest (1) 2 Aina 38, Elanga 51

It was a bad day at the office as the Bees surrendered their unbeaten home record and shipped points at the Gtech for only the second time this season.

Goals either side of half-time did the damage for Thomas Frank's men, who looked well below their best - as if still carrying the disappointment of the long fruitless midweek trek to Newcastle with them.

Brentford looked a bit flat from the outset. There was not the usual fast start that characterised them not so long ago and they allowed a well-organised Forest - fourth in the table at start of play - to ease their way into the game.

And once they had taken the initiative, Nuno Espirito Santo's team looked comfortable.

It took 20 minutes for the hosts to get going. Then, a great round-the-corner pass from Bryan Mbeumo freed up Yoane Wissa down the right and his cross was well met by Mikkel Damsgaard - forcing Matz Sels into a save.

But there was not much by way of clearcut chances for either side in a low-key start until the crowd were energised by a Murillo clearance that flew vertically above him. Wissa nearly capitalised, controlling the bouncing ball with a touch before sending a shot over the bar.

Soon after, Wissa almost got on the end of Mbeumo's low cross thrashed in from the right to inject a bit more life into a somnolent atmosphere. That 'Football in a library' chant got an obligatory airing from the away end.

Mark Flekken came to the rescue with a fine dive to his left to keep out a close-range header from Chris Wood from Elliot Anderson's chip up from the byline.

But the visitors stole in front when Neco Williams got around Kristoffer Ajer to roll a ball back for Ola Aina to pass into the bottom corner of the net.

The growing confidence on display from the visitors was translated into a second goal six minutes into the second half. Anthony Elanga seized on a heavy touch from Keane Lewis-Potter before cutting inside to drill a left foot shot past Flekken.

It needed an excellent stop from Sels to deny Ajer as the Bees raised their game to try and get back into it - the chance set up by Mbeumo heading a Damsgaard cross back towards the defender.

In truth, though, this was a game that looked like it might be slipping away long before the end.

Bees: (4-3-3) Flekken - Ajer (Roerslev 67) (Konak 96), Collins, Mee, Lewis-Potter - Janelt (Maghoma 67), Norgaard, Damsgaard - Mbeumo, Wissa, Schade (Fabio Carvalho 81)

Forest: (3-4-2-1) Sels - Murillo, Milenkovic, Morato - Aina, Gibbs-White (Jota Silva 75), Andersen (Dominguez 64), Williams (Toffolo 92), Elanga (Yates 64), Hudson-Odoi - Wood (Awonyi 92)

Attendance: 17,115