I.Saw's Match Report: Squeezed Into Seats To See Rams Stung By Bees
Sunday, 2nd Nov 2014 12:34 by I.Saw

Second away day in London in a week. Let the train take the strain. We do.

Arrive early, visit a sea of poppies, a moat round a castle, 1914 -2014. It’s moving, it’s a tribute that grows as we watch more flowers being planted. We remember the sacrifice. We contribute to the poppy appeal.

A walk. A breakfast. Crosse Keys, formally the headquarters of the HSBC. The bacon butty’s cold, the bread on the stale side, it’s food, it’s cheap, it’s Weatherspoons, eat.

Walk, tube, walk. Victoria’s best watering hole the Kings Arms, a wall of beer, a quaint back street tavern taken over by the travelling Rams army.

And so to Brentford past the legendry Beehive, the temptation to pop in and see if Robb Johnson is propping up the bar strong. (Who’s Robb Johnson? He’s a musician, Google is your friend!)

Griffin Park, the only ground with a pub on every corner, the only ground remaining that gives you less than 5” between seats. Now, a little diversion, if you can, please measure your calf muscle somewhere near the knee. Would you fit?

Griffin Park, a luscious pitch, wide and short, almost square.

Squaring up Derby make one change Jack Butland in as keeper otherwise it’s the same as at Fulham.

We dominate. Simon Dawkins takes it on, beats three, into the penalty area; he lashes the ball into the side netting, if only he’d chipped the keeper instead. Still it’s a good sign.

Craig Forsyth angles a low cross across the face of goal; narrowly we fail to make contact. It’s a matter of time. We are confident. We are assured.

We score Forsyth feeds Chris Martin who this time gets the merest of touches and the ball squeezes in off the inside of the post. One nil and half way through the first half we stroll.

Brentford look like the away side, playing on the counter, we cope and press. We fail to capitalise. We should be three up as the half time whistle blows. We are not, a solitary goal our advantage.

It should have been enough.

It wasn’t.

Barely had the second half started before the Bees equalise. Moses Odubajo’s cross is collected by Andre Gray and a curling shot ripples the net beyond Butland.

The Bees up the tempo. They are in our faces.

The time we had in the first half was gone. We lack imagination, we lack movement, we lack the ability to impose ourselves on the game.

Starting from the back, Jake Buxton and Richard Keogh both wide want short balls from goal kicks, but by the time our keeper has put the ball down the Bees have pushed men onto our defenders.

We kick long. We lose possession. We regain possession, they close us down, we have no options other than another long boot which loses possession again. It’s a theme that continues. On and On like Ariston.

That and the theme of the referee and the bizarre decisions that favour the home side. That’s not an excuse, we should cope with this, we should be better, we’re not though. It's a tetchy match, tempers flare, elbows fly, it's not pretty and it's pretty poor refereeing.

Four minutes into injury time and we concede again. Stuart Dallas blasts a screamer past Butland and the Bees win 2-1.

It’s no more than they deserve. They worked hard they ran at us and they ran out worthy winners.

We on the other hand need some winners on the pitch, on yesterday’s performance only Craig Bryson and Richard Keogh should be happy with their contributions.

Match Info / Teams:

Ref: C. Berry (not Chuck!)

Crowd: 10,608 (1,705 Travelling Rams)

Rams: Butland, Christie, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth, Mascarell, Bryson (Hughes 57’), Hendrick, Russell (Coutts 77’), Dawkins (Ibe 62’), Martin.

Unused Subs: Roos, Eustace, Best, Shotton.

Goals: Martin (29’).

Bees: Tidwell, Craig, Dan, Douglas, Odubajo, Toral (Dallas, 65), Judge, Gray (Proschwitz, 73), Diagouraga, Jota (Pritchard, 65)

Unused Subs: Bonham, Saunders, Tarkowski, Smith

Goals: Gray (49’), Dallas (90 + 3’)

Match Stats — Brentford / Derby:

Possession: 51% / 49%

Shots On Target: 2 / 3

Shots Off Target: 8 / 13

Corners: 5 / 5

Fouls: 9 / 14

We Said / They Said - Match Reaction:

We Said — Steve McClaren:

"It's usually us who score at the end, so we will have to go away, lick our wounds and see a reaction on Tuesday.”

"We started so well and were passing the ball around nicely, but in the second half we wanted to run with it and have too many touches and that allowed Brentford back into the game."

They said — Mark Warburton:

"He has done exceptionally well for us (Stuart Dallas). His fitness levels are improving and he is learning how to handle the Championship. All he wants to do is score goals so he has a big smile on his face now.”

"We've made out intentions clear on how we want to play from the outset so I'm delighted that this result once”.