Brentford 2 – 0 Brighton – Match Report

Ivan Toney marked two goals as Brentford returned to winning ways over Brighton in the Premier League 2-0. 

It was also a landmark night for the head coach. The Dane became only the fifth man in club history to lead 200 matches, reaching that mark with more victories than anyone who had been in the position before him.

On the eve of the match, both teams honored Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Enock Mwepu, who was forced to retire earlier this week at the age of 24 because of a hereditary heart condition.

When the game started, to the roar of the Brentford fans, the Bees flew out of the traps on the fly.

Frank Onyeka was all over the place in his first Premier League game of the season, thwarting Brighton and preventing them from creating anything offensively. His hard work allowed Matthias Jensen, in particular, to have time to latch on to the ball and dictate play in midfield.

“Brentford possessed the lion’s share of the ball early in the game, making possession time in the opening stages even more important for Brighton. However, the Gulls were wasteful, trying to play under Brentford’s hard, high pressing and allowing the Bees to own the territorial advantage.

For that advantage, Brentford was only able to create two scoring chances. The first, after four minutes, when Onyeka burst into the penalty area and was on the cutting edge of Tony’s pass, but he shot his header over the crossbar from eight meters, and the second ended with Vissa’s shot from 30 meters into the nine.

In the second half, Brighton began to gain momentum. When they were able to break Brentford’s pressing, the players stayed in the attacking zones to take advantage.

Leandro Trossard passed from the left flank and gave a clear pass into the penalty area to Danny Welbeck. The Brighton striker thought he had opened up space for a shot, but Ethan Pinnock stayed with him until the end and made the decisive block.

Brighton’s next moment was also for Welbeck, his weak header after a Pervis Estupinan cross was easily parried by David Raya.

Raya’s subsequent actions were not at all routine. First, he took a vital touch to deflect Moises Caicedo’s shot over the crossbar, and then he did an even better job of stopping a corner kick when the ball fell to Lewis Dunk on the edge of the six yard line; the defender’s contact with the ball was not the cleanest, but Raya still had to show a keen reaction to kick it Brighton to a safe distance.

Although Frank’s charges were forced to play more after the break, they were a hair’s breadth Brighton from taking the lead after 24 minutes. Vitaly Janelt left-footed the ball to Brian Mbeumo, who passed it to Brian. With his first touch, the Cameroonian legionnaire cushioned a shot on goal from 15 meters that flew over Sanchez, but hit the frame of the goal in the rectangle.

Any disappointment from that miss was quickly dispelled when the Bees took the lead in the 27th minute. It was a goal of clinical quality. Mbeumo fought well from a tight spot on the sideline and burst deep into the box. He saw and found a running Onyeki, whose pass from the line of the penalty area was deftly crossed into the net by Tony at the near post.

The goal didn’t change the balance of the game; Brighton continued to press, but Brentford’s back line stood firm. Before halftime, the Seagulls could only manage a Lewis Dunk header that missed the target and March’s shot, which was superbly blocked by Ben Mee.

Late in the half, Michael Salisbury was faced with a dangerous moment when Frank and Joel Veltman collided in a struggle for a loose ball in Brentford’s technical area. Players and coaches on both sides were drawn into the conflict before Salisbury calmed the situation and showed both head coaches yellow cards.

After the break, Brighton continued to be active in the early stages, again without causing Rayae too many problems.

Alexis McAllister’s shot was tipped Brighton by Janelt and Welbeck headed over, but that was the end of their attack.

The Bees didn’t create many chances of their own, apart from an inaccurate header from Mee, but were given a golden chance in the 64th minute when Toney was brought down by a clumsy Weltman in the penalty area.

All 19 of Toney’s previous penalties for Brentford had been successful and number 20 was no exception: Sanchez made a mistake and the ball was in the net. It was Tony’s eighth goal of the season, only Manchester City’s Erling Gaaland is higher than him in the scoring table.

If Tony was the star of the first 65 minutes, then Raya was without doubt the star of the final 25 minutes as the Brighton side desperately searched for a way back into the game.

The Spanish stopper dealt with Mac Allister’s deflected shot from close range with no problem. Moments later, March looked certain to reduce the deficit when he met Kaoru Mitoma’s free-kick with a powerful header from the edge of the six-yard box, but Raya again won the battle by running up and getting enough contact with the ball to send it Brighton from goal.

In the closing stages, Frank used all the options available to him from the bench, with Sergi Canos making his first appearance of the season after injury.

These changes helped turn the tide of the game and prevented the Brighton side from gaining momentum as Brentford moved closer to victory.

McAllister again found Raya more than fit for his close range shot in one of Brighton’s few late chances. “Brentford could have equalised in the 88th minute when substitute Josh Dasilva crossed the ball into the box. The ball bounced to Mads Rorslev, who shot from the edge of the box. The shot deflected, flew over Sanchez and headed towards goal before being cleared off the line. VAR was quick to check as the ball went close to Dunk’s arm as he was moving Brighton from Dasilva, but no penalty was awarded.

The six minutes of stoppage time passed without much trouble; Adam Lallana’s header was just cancelled out by Raya, while shots from Caicedo and Deniz Undava were blocked by a wall of red and white defenders.

The full-time whistle was met with loud applause from all sides of the stadium as the Bees secured a hard-fought third win of the campaign. 

Raya; Ajer, Pinnock, Mee, Henry (Ghoddos) Janelt, Onyeka (Baptiste), Jensen (Dasilva) Mbeumo (Canós), Wissa (Roerslev), Toney

Substitutes : Cox, Zanka, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard, Ghoddos, Baptiste, Dasilva, Canós, Roerslev 

Sanchez; March, Veltman, Dunk, Webster, Estupinan (Mitoma), Mac Allister, Caicedo, Groß (Lallana), Trossard (Undav), Welbeck

Substitutes : Steele, Lamptey, Sarmiento, Enciso, Gilmour, Turns, Mitoma, Lallana, Undav

Scorers:

Match Stats:

Possession

Total Shots

Shots on Target

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Dangerous Attacks

Player of the match: Ivan Tony