Back to winning ways as 10-man Bees beat the Villa

A great defensive display in the second half sees 10-man Bees hold on to their first-half lead to get the 3 points. When the 4th Official annnounced 10 minutes of added-on time, I'm not sure how my blood pressure didn't go through the roof. As I am still celebrating the win I would like to acknowldege the Brentford FC website as I have 'borrowwd' their report (with the occasional comment in italic).

Kevin Schade received a straight red card moments before Ouattara netted the only goal of the game, and a resolute second-half display earned a first-ever victory at Villa Park. Keith Andrews made three changes to the side who lost 2-0 at home to Nottingham Forest a week earlier, with Sepp van den Berg, Jordan Henderson and Ouattara returning to the starting XI. The trio they replaced – Nathan Collins, Yehor Yarmoliuk and Mikkel Damsgaard – were named on the bench alongside young midfielder Luka Bentt, who was included in a first-team matchday squad for the first time.

One of the three reintroduced to the team, Henderson, was involved in creating the first chance of the afternoon. The England international got his boot to a contested ball midway inside Villa’s half before Schade turned it around the corner for stand-in captain Mathias Jensen to drag a left-footed effort wide of the mark. A superb Caoimhín Kelleher save prevented the hosts from taking the lead on 15 minutes. Morgan Rogers picked up the ball in the middle of the park and released Tammy Abraham. The striker, making his second debut for the Villans, having signed on a permanent deal from Beşiktaş four days earlier, saw a powerful shot turned away by a strong hand. Moments later, a Michael Kayode long throw could have led to the opener at the other end. His delivery was met by van den Berg, the Dutchman winning the aerial battle with Emiliano Martínez on what was his 50th Premier League appearance, and the ball dropped to Schade, but the latter couldn’t get a clean connection on his attempt. The next chance went the way of former Bee Ezri Konsa following a set-piece. Douglas Luiz delivered a central free-kick over the top of the backline but the centre-back, caught in between squaring the ball and shooting, volleyed high and wide of the mark.

A manic end to the half followed. Three minutes before the break, Brentford were reduced to 10 men as Schade was shown a straight red card following an off-the-ball incident involving Matty Cash. (Schade kicked him in the b_llocks. Easily done as Cash is extremely annoying). Then, in first-half stoppage-time, the Bees took the lead. Kristoffer Ajer played a delightful ball over the top of the defence for Ouattara to race onto. The Burkina Faso international’s initial pass from the byline, intended for Igor Thiago, was cut out by Pau Torres, but the ball fell back to the winger, who cut onto his left foot and rifled into the roof of the net from a tight angle to score his fourth goal of the season. Ajer showed his worth at the other end before the interval, too, sliding in to block Abraham’s goalbound effort from eight yards.

Villa thought they had levelled early in the second half. Jadon Sancho drifted in from the left wing, twisting and turning before finally letting fly. Kelleher saved his effort, only for Abraham to turn the rebound into the back of the net. However, following a lengthy VAR review, the goal was disallowed for the ball going out of play earlier in the move. Despite that setback, the Villans continued to push. Abraham was in the thick of the action again shortly afterwards, with his effort following a low Ian Maatsen cross not having enough on it to trouble the goal. Collins and Yarmoliuk were introduced from the bench as the west Londoners continued to defend in numbers, with the next chance falling the way of Cash, who saw a well-struck attempt parried by Kelleher. Keane Lewis-Potter was brought on for his 100th Premier League appearance with just under 15 minutes of regulation time remaining and, a few minutes later, got out to Emiliano Buendía just in time to block his left-footed strike from the middle of the box.

Late in the 90, Kelleher did well to secure a low effort from Rogers after the England international had cut in from the left side and, as 10 minutes of stoppage-time was announced, Leon Bailey blazed over from the corner of the box. That was to be the last major chance of note as Brentford stood firm to secure a hard-earned three points. (A great effort from 10-men who were playing the against the 12-men of Villa as the quality of refereeing was beyond belief -one of the worst displays I have ever seen).