Pre-match thoughts
After two away games and a Bank Holiday weekend, it seems a long time since I came to Portman Road. Hoping for a win as always, but most of all a good game.
Brentford Football Club became ‘The Bees’ due to a misunderstanding in the 1890s. Fans from nearby Borough Road College, at a match to support a friend playing for Brentford, were heard chanting ‘Buck up Bs’, which was their school's war cry. The local media’s misinterpretation of ‘Buck up Bees’ created and cemented the nickname.
At the Gtech in October, the Bees won 4-3, coming back from two goals down to edge Ipswich Town’s ten-man side out of the win. It was one of the games that slipped through our fingers.
Brentford are seeking a fourth successive victory, having beaten Brighton, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United in recent weeks. Their head coach, Thomas Frank, has said that this weekend’s game against Town is potentially his side's most difficult of their closing matches. He has respect for Ipswich and the way they have competed and fought hard throughout this campaign. He also spoke well of Kieran McKenna as a man, his character, and his achievements in the last three seasons. Nice words, Thomas.
Martyn (with a Y) was on the train again, and we sorted out the team for next year between us on the journey. I’m uncertain about some of my ideas, but as he is very knowledgeable, having worked for years in a professional capacity in the game, his ideas were very interesting. I also learned a little more about him and will only say I am full of admiration and respect for the personal decisions he has taken.
First half
Three minutes in, Hutchinson's cross found Delap’s head in the centre of the box, but his strike went straight to keeper Flekken. Play then settled down with the Bees moving into a phase of domination: pushing up the pitch, though there were only a few shots at goal, which Palmer had covered. Town had two or three breakaway chances but failed to convert them.
Lewis–Potter and Enciso were the main threats at each end.
Then…a cross from the right was put behind by O'Shea. Mbeumo whipped in the corner and Greaves and Van den Berg went down in a heap. The whistle was blown and VAR brought into play. No foul, no penalty. (Checking this later I discovered “The referee’s call of no penalty to Brentford following a potential holding offence by Greaves on Van den Berg was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact occurring before the ball was in play”). Okay…phew.
Play restarted with another Brentford corner. The referee blew up for more pushing and shoving. Taylor and Norgaard were both booked. (Many said this happened when the ball WAS in play so the following corner was an anomaly)?
At the third attempt from the corner flag, Mbeumo's delivery from the left was delivered into the side netting by the leaping head of Schade. (Schadenfreude came to mind.)
No one seemed sure what was happening during this puzzling shambles, which left us all howling. The ‘third corner’ decision seemed inexplicable to both sets of fans, but of course, Brentford were happy enough with the outcome. I asked some of the Bees fans about it after the game, and they admitted to being just as confused as I was by it all.
A bout of singing “One-nil to the referee” and a few "half chances" followed, before the referee blew his whistle for half-time.
Town 0-1 Brentford.
Second half
Greaves was felled by a full-on shot in the face by Wissa from the edge of the D, but had no treatment and carried on, though I was surprised it wasn’t treated as a head injury.
Enciso was lively again from the start and might have scored a few minutes later, but instead opted for a square pass, which went to waste.
Conor Chaplin called for treatment but was consequently taken off and subbed by Clarke. Hopefully, this was just a precautionary measure and not a major injury setback to add to our list. Enciso switched to the right-sided No.10 role.
On 61 minutes, Town’s double substitution of Cajuste and Hirst for Taylor and Delap upped the ante for the Blues. Delap had been looking tired in this game compared to his normal rate of play. I didn’t recognise Hirst’s newly blonde look at first, but you can’t miss Clarke, who I love – oversized shorts and all.
Another Brentford Corner sees Tuanzebe wrestling with Van den Berg. Fortunately, nothing is given, and VAR confirms this decision.
When a follow-up shot was blocked, the ball spun up in the air, and as it dropped, Wissa tried an overhead kick. He only managed to boot Greaves square in the face, and a deserved yellow card resulted.
Town were by far the liveliest in this half and should have scored that elusive equaliser. Hutchinson hit the post, and Cajuste shot agonisingly just wide. They went on pushing and playing hard with several near misses: definitely had the Bees on the back foot for much of the time, which exhilarated the crowd.
There’s no walking out on this one, I’m happy to see.
Five minutes added time.
Flekken pulled off two excellent saves in extra time from Hirst and Burgess to deny Town a point.
Men of the Match
Ipswich - Dara O’Shea is always strong in defence
Julio Enciso and Omari Hutchinson were both tricky
George Hirst, Jens Cajuste and Jack Clarke made a good impression when they came on as subs
Sam Morsy was tireless and solid as always
Flekken and Mbeumo were stand outs for Brentford.
Round up and thoughts
The Brentford fans I met were all really nice, and several admitted they had expected to lose the game. It’s also the first time I’ve known a winning team complain about the referee, but they did pick up several yellow cards.
Anthony was with his friend Lucas and asked how to get to KFC. He also shared a photo of himself 15 years ago when the Bees beat Town 1-0.
He doesn’t look quite as sweet as that now, but he seemed like a very nice guy.
This game was marred by both teams pushing and shoving during the corners. Recently, a local newspaper pundit wrote an entire article on the common current habit of grabbing and physically holding players, particularly in corner and free kick taking situations, and the rules with regard to this behaviour. He queried when it had suddenly become a ‘thing’ which is freely engaged in by all, often with no stricture.
I wonder too – I don’t remember it always being a part of the play in the past, except perhaps for the tugging of shirts or even shorts. The practice is getting worse and has become overt, obvious, and faintly ridiculous lately, yet it is still against the rules. It needs to be addressed in some way, perhaps by an FA ‘edict’ to the training pitches (if that is remotely possible), before every encounter turns into a wrestling match. To be clear, I’m not excluding Town from censure for these actions. It has become a universal behaviour.
On the train home, there were few Town fans in evidence, so I chatted to Maxwell and Syed from Brentford. They had a very polite and balanced view of the game but were, of course, pleased to have won. They asked what the feeling was amongst Town fans with respect to the drop. I think the answer to that was self-evident in the supporters’ reactions today, the majority of whom are still behind them all the way – up or down.
I do think the Bees should wear yellow and black, not red and white…
Stewart Watson’s summing up of this game is perfect – “Schade heads Bees in front after VAR/corner confusion (18), Flekken denies Burgess late leveller (90+3)”
Though it was more exciting than that in between.
