View from the South – Brentford v Birmingham City

I was rudely awakened at 05.50 with a phone call that frankly could have waited until a more civilised hour! Nevertheless, life being what it is, I was wide awake and decided to make a virtue out of adversity as there was no getting back to sleep with Mrs Bazza snoring gently next to me. So it was I got up, dressed and went downstairs. It was a pleasant morning and not as chilly as the forecast had suggested and I wandered around the garden and inspected the contents of the greenhouse (I swear I’m turning into my Grandad who was a fabulous gardener and I have to say as I’ve got older, I find it peaceful and therapeutic to be in my garden pottering about. You realise you are getting old when you can say you’ve been supporting the Blues for over 50 years and Gardener’s World is your favourite TV programme of the week!!!!)

After a spot of breakfast and a couple of restorative cups of coffee, I decided to slip off in the car to the barbers to get my ears lowered. My flowing locks were getting a bit unruly and Mrs Bazza was starting to suggest that I wasn’t exactly looking like an officer and a gentleman so I thought I would get ahead of the game. My usual clippy is a Leeds fan and he has all but given up on his team with the turmoil and chaos that has afflicted that famous club. I know that Blues have had a pretty rough time for the last three years but it pales in comparison with what has befallen Leeds these last few years. My debonair good looks restored, I returned with the paper for my beloved wife and did some minor jobs until it was time to head off for Blackwater station. Having changed at Wokingham and Virginia Water, I arrived at Brentford station at about 13.20. I walked down from the station to The Griffin pub where some refreshment was taken on board. It was very good to see that although one of the local bobbies told me that the Griffin was an away pub, there were plenty of home supporters mingling with the faithful from the Midlands which is the way it should be.

I met Neil Hooper, a journalist from The Sun in Edinburgh. He is a lifelong sports fan and as far as I could see just takes in a game here and there when the mood takes him. He lived in Telford for many years and went to watch Blues regularly, hence the connection. He is a Hearts supporter by inclination and the Jambos have had their fair share of off the pitch problems with eccentric owners and financial difficulties and like their rivals Hibernian find themselves in the second tier of Scottish football totally skint. We reminisced about great teams and players of our era particularly Scottish ones; Denis Law, Alan Hansen, Jim Baxter, Gordon Strachan, Alan Gilzean, Graeme Souness, Dave Mackay, Kenny Dalglish to name but a few over a couple of pints and soon it was time to get into the ground.

I’d never been to Griffin Park before and it’s a nice little stadium in a pleasant part of London with a capacity of 12,300 and it was good to see it pretty full. The sun was shining and with the temperature not too hot it was a perfect day for football. Blues set up as you were against Ipswich and I was pleased to see us 4-4-2 with Wes Thomas and Clayton Donaldson up front.
Blues started brightly and the truth of the matter is that by half time this game should have been put to bed with a bedtime story, kiss on the forehead, tucked in snug and tight and off to the land of nod! Blues could and should have been at least 3-0 up having taken the lead in the 16th minute through a coolly taken penalty by the legend, that is, Paul Caddis. Blues were also now a man to the good due to Tony Craig’s sending off. Jonathan Grounds lobbed the ball back in from a poor clearance and the bounce evaded the defender as he found himself on the wrong side of his opponent, Clayton Donaldson. The ex-Bees man was about to get a shot off with a clear sight of goal when Craig clattered into the back of him. It was a penalty and a red card, no arguments.

Brentford then replaced their lost centre-half with defender Harlee Dean from the bench, sacrificing one of their midfielders, Jota. I was interested to see that Brentford kept their two forwards up top but this allowed Blues to swarm all over the Bees rather than the other way round. Clayton Donaldson and Wes Thomas were causing Brentford havoc with excellent support from Cotterill exploiting the extra space out wide; surely further goals were just a matter of time? Sadly it was not to be the case as Blues squandered good chances that they would later regret.

One of the worst misses was by Wes Thomas as he missed a free header following a peach of a cross from Cotterill after Jonathan Spector had played him in to the by-line. Thomas blazed the ball over the bar instead of burying it into the gaping net with only Button to beat. It was a shocking miss. Cotterill almost scored himself from a fierce cross shot but a deflection saved Brentford by a whisker. The corner was flicked on by Grant Hall and Lee Novak powered his header on target from close range only for Button to produce a truly fantastic save somehow flicking a strong hand upwards to divert the ball over the bar to keep Brentford in the game. David Davis went close with a couple of speculative efforts, Cotterill wasted a free kick 25 yards out just before the break which was miles over the bar and a series of corners failed to come to anything. Brentford would have been relieved, I am certain, to go into half time only one down.

Everyone knows the old cliché, ‘a game of two halves;’ well this was it. For the first ten minutes or so Blues were on the front foot and looking to carry on in the same manner as before the break but Brentford upped their tempo and started to get more into the game. Brentford replaced Tommy Smith with Stuart Dallas at the break and this seemed to give the home side more fluidity and balance. Even with ten men, Brentford were always going to have a little spell in the game when they were in the ascendency. What was needed was to defend properly, see it out and go again. What it did not require was changes to the playing structure and disruption to the system. Lee Clark took off Thomas and replaced him with Gray on 55 minutes and compounded matters by removing his second striker, Donaldson with Gleeson pushing Novak up front on his own. The net effect was that Brentford dominated, increasing as the second period wore on and you just knew that a goal for the home side was coming. Blues lost their rhythm, their shape and their composure as a depleted Brentford side swarmed all over them. The Bees had a shout for a penalty of their own when Spector appeared to bundle Jake Bidwell over in the box. I couldn’t see the incident clearly from our end of the pitch but having seen it back on the Football League Show last night, I have to say the home team had a case; we were lucky to get away with that one.

Darren Randolph was far busier than he should have been and was called upon to make good saves from Alan Judge, Alex Pritchard and Andre Gray but inevitably a mistake from Jonathan Grounds was eventually punished by Moses Odubajo. The full back’s poor touch allowed the speedy forward in as Randolph came out to confront him.  Odubajo dinked a delightful finish over the keeper and into the net for a thoroughly deserved equaliser in the 79th minute. Brentford went after an unlikely win but ran out of steam in the end; as for Blues we no longer had the structure, shape or personnel to regain the lead and rob our opponents of their worthy share of the spoils. Clark put Denny Johnstone on in place of David Davis with four minutes left reverting back to 4-4-2 from the failed 4-5-1 he had established but it was too little too late. Blues should, as I said earlier, have won this game at a canter; in the end they were fortunate not to lose it and Lee Clark must take the lion’s share of the blame for this for poor tactics and substitution selections in the second half.

The Good: The friendly atmosphere in The Griffin Pub before the game, the first half performance from Blues.
The Bad: The half time catering; they ran out of food! The profligate waste of two points in a game that should have been won easily at half time: Blues sat off instead of continuing to take the game to Brentford which would surely have yielded three points.
The Ugly: The second half tactics from Blues; dreadful.
Brentford (4-1-4-1): David Button 8, Alan McCormack 6 (Moses Odubajo 73, 7), James Tarkowski 6, Tony Craig 5 (sent off 16) Jake Bidwell 7, Jonathan Douglas 6, Alan Judge 7, Tommy Smith 6 (Stuart Dallas 45, 7), Alex Pritchard 7, Jota 6 (Harlee Dean 17, 6), Andre Gray 7. Not used: Jack Bonham, Marcos Tebar, Jon Toral, Nick Proschwitz.

Birmingham City (4-4-2): Darren Randolph 7, Jonathan Spector 7, Jonathan Grounds 5, David Edgar 6, Grant Hall 6, David Cotterill 7, David Davis 7 (Denny Johnstone 86, N/A), Paul Caddis 7, Clayton Donaldson 7 (Stephen Gleeson 68, 6), Wesley Thomas 7 (Demarai Gray 55, 6), Lee Novak 6. Not used: Colin Doyle, Paul Robinson, Reece Brown, Mark Duffy.

Referee: Robert Madley 7: I thought the officials had a reasonable game. Mr Madley got most of the calls right with the exception perhaps of Brentford’s penalty shout? Overall he was fair to both teams and the result in the end was correct on the balance of play.
Attendance: 9,076