As we all know, Stan is his own man. Stuff the
hype and the gilded reputation, he decided that Payton, Branch and Cooke were all ahead of
our illustrious number 33. Wrighty’s role became confined to the cameo department.
After Preston and Luton, and four games without a goal, perhaps benching him was a
kindness. Some pundits even suggested that Wright wasn’t match fit. However, after
his stunning equaliser at Gillingham, he has made a considerable impact. In less time than
it takes to complete three games he’s scored four goals and assisted two others.
Today, Stan cut him more slack and it paid off.
At half time we were struggling. Despite having much of the
possession in the first 45 minutes, we only achieved two good chances. Payton just failed
to punish a defensive blunder as Woodman failed to intercept a ball on the edge of his box
and Cooke headed narrowly wide from Mitchell Thomas’s crisp right wing centre. Helped
by Burnley’s ponderous, lateral movement and some poor final balls, Brentford looked
pretty solid at the back, with Powell, Quinn and Marshall picking off most attacks with
comfort. Little was restored but was required to play on the left in order to allow Mullin
the berth which he filled so convincingly on Saturday. Everyone agreed that this policy
was not working. Although the Bees didn’t threaten too much on the break, they carved
out three reasonable opportunities to take the lead. The best of these fell to beanpole
forward Pinamonte, but his first touch was diabolical. However, the lesson was not learnt,
and just before half-time Lloyd Owusu took advantage of some shambolic marking and broke
free on the right side of the box. Seeing Crichton off his line he lobbed our keeper.
Despite Davis’ desperate attempt at a clearance the ball rolled into the left-hand
corner of the net in front of the subdued Burnley masses.
The interval conversations were sombre. We seemed to share a
similar foreboding. To our relief, Little was moved the right, swapping positions with
Mullin. To our surprise, Stan replaced Payton immediately with Wright. Whether enforced or
not it proved to be a masterstroke. Wright started to pull the Brentford defence all over
the place with his movement and at last exploitable gaps began to appear. Wright was the
first to take advantage of these, when, in the 61st minute, he curled a left
foot drive against the inside of the right post. Fortunately, Mullin was well placed to
crack the rebound past Woodman. Three minutes later, we were ahead. Wright slipped his
marker and latching onto Cooke’s pass, he blasted the ball inside the left-hand post
while Woodman moved in the opposite direction.
Given their dreadful run of form (eleven games without a win) and
their uncertain future (the Noades - ‘is he returning to Selhurst?’ - saga drags
on), Brentford might have died at this point. To their credit, they fought back with
passion and skill. Scott Partridge cut inside our defence and from just inside the box
beat Crichton with a crisp shot. Thankfully, the ball hit the left post and rolled back
into Crichton’s arms. Brentford continued to apply the pressure but Crichton made
three splendid saves to keep them out. First, he turned a sharp header from Marshall over
the bar. Then he dived to his left to turn away a fizzing grubber and finally, he threw
himself to his left to deflect Andy Scott’s flighted shot against the post and away
for a corner. However, Burnley were continuing to threaten on the break and in the 76th
minute, Mullin outstripped the Brentford defence and, from the left side of the box,
curled a wonderful shot around Woodman and inside the right-hand post.
It should have been enough but Burnley don’t play things this
way. Right at the death, Folan’s cross was flicked on for Scott Marshall to poke home
Brentford’s second. With only two minutes of added time, Brentford didn’t get
even a sniff of an equaliser. However with our defence now appearing more vulnerable than
at any time this season, a one-goal lead never seems secure. As before, the final whistle
was greeted with both exultation and relief.
As for the individual performances, Crichton was again magnificent.
Whether we manage promotion or not, his contribution this year has been immense. Wright
and Mullin were the pick of the front runners, with Mullin enjoying greater freedom in the
second half. Glen Little didn’t have one of his better games but still played his
part by stretching the Bees’ defence. Cooke worked tirelessly and, on the evidence of
Saturday and today, seems to be getting into the box a little more. His strength is
essential up front. Payton again seemed a little out of sorts. His loss of potency was
probably contributory to our ineffective first half showing. Cook didn’t play,
presumably due to injury, so it was good that Mellon had one of his more influential
games, probing and switching the play. He set up a majority of our attacks. Johnrose
restored some bite to the midfield and Branch was largely comfortable against Owusu,
although he lost the big man for the opening goal. As on Saturday, Davis, Thomas and Cox
do not appear as dominant in a flat back four, but credit to Stan. His target is clearly
to win each game, and this formation is more likely to achieve that objective.
This, of course, was a crucial result. With Bristol Rovers
unexpectedly losing at Blackpool and Millwall, Gillingham and Wigan all dropping points,
we still have a chance of automatic promotion. On the other hand, we are still not secure
of a play off position. Small wonder that it’s difficult to think or talk about
anything else at the moment.
Team: Crichton,
Thomas, Davis, Cox, Branch, Little (Jepson 83), Mellon, Johnrose, Mullin, Cooke, Payton
(Wright 46). Subs not used: Weller, Lee, Armstrong.
