Brentford went into this game with high hopes of revitalising their Championship campaign but coming up against a solid Middlesbrough team it was not to be for the Bees. Jonathan Douglas, a veteran of the bees, made his 149th appearance for the club and David Button played his 50th league match for us. Both this landmarks deserved to be celebrated but after an awful performance they will not be.
Middlesbrough were 2 places above Brentford in 9th and were hoping to press on for a play-off place but Brentford who had won 3 out of their last 4 away games knew they had a chance at the Riverside stadium. This match was the ideal chance to demonstrate that they are capable of playing well against the big teams but today it was if they were not on the pitch.
Both sides started brightly with Patrick Bamford’s first shot of the match going high and wide and then Alan McCormack winning a free kick high up the pitch. With Brentford gaining two corners in two minutes and also dominating possession it seemed as though Brentford could dominate the day’s football. While Brentford were winning free kicks and taking corners Middlesbrough just could not get a shot on target and were becoming more and more frustrated. As we moved through the game the Bees continued to apply pressure and were forcing careless mistakes from Middlesbrough. However between the 29th minute and 32nd minute Brentford had given away two free kicks and centre back Tarkowski had received a yellow card. All the fans were hoping this was just a few minutes of poor play and we would regain concentration soon. It was not to be and in the 35th minute Leadbitter of Middlesbrough scored an impressive 35 yard goal with his right foot. This is where it began to go wrong for the bees.
As we got closer to half time Brentford continued to take shots and move higher up the pitch. By the 42nd minute we were still in full control of possession and did not deserve to be 1-0 down. Going into half time the fans would have felt that the game was still within our reach and just a period of skilful play could bring us the goal we desired.
It seemed as if the half time team talk from the gaffer Mark Warburton had not worked and within 5 minutes of coming out we were 2-0 behind. Albert Adomah took a shot with his right foot from close range and this was enough to get the goal. This is where it began to crumble for Brentford and our play appeared to get worse and worse. We started to concede stupid fouls and were losing possession very quickly. This was not the Brentford that our loyal fans have been used to seeing this season. Mark Warburton brought on Nick Proschwitz and Tebar as a double substitution in the 65th minute but unfortunately they were not enough to get the goals back.
Tebar’s first touch gave away the foul that eventually lead to the third goal being scored and Middlesbrough were 3-0 up in the 67th minute. Any kind of result for the bees seemed a long way away now. A Bamford header looked to have sealed victory and ruined Brentford’s chances of moving higher up the table. The game continued to move on with both sides passing the ball around and Brentford desperately trying to press as high as they could up the pitch.
A Middlesbrough side who had looked so composed suddenly became unorganised and wasteful. Dean Whitbread became especially frustrated and received a red card for his challenge. As we moved into the final ten minutes Brentford appeared to have accepted defeat and the laziness that came from that lead to a 4th Middlesbrough goal. Kike who had earlier replaced Bamford uses his right foot to fire the ball into the top right hand corner. This was now certainly the end for Brentford in this game.
After looking good for most of the first half Brentford will leave Middlesbrough feeling very disappointed with how they have performed and will know that they must do better in the future. Mark Warburton’s side must start to improve quickly if they have high hopes for this season.
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