Brentford 1 v 1 Cambridge United

Cambridge United won 5-4 on penalties
Tuesday 13th August 2019
EFL Cup 1st Round
Griffin Park, Brentford
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £3.00
Attendance: 5,215

I had very much wanted to visit Griffin Park at some stage this season, being the last season before the stadium, which has been home to Brentford since 1904, is demolished and the club moves to a new stadium less than a mile away. Tonight provided the perfect opportunity for that, as I was on holiday from work so a late night would be an issue, and also the club were offering tickets for just £5.00 on the terrace, or £10.00 for a seat. As much for the enjoyment of watching games on a terrace as the cheaper price, I chose the terrace.

After spending the early afternoon in central London watching a screening of the BBC TV show Still Open All Hours, at the BBC Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House, with a very welcome appearance in the theatre of Sir David Jason to introduce it, I made my way over to West London well in advance of kick-off, which gave me time to walk around the stadium when it was less crowded, and to have a pint at one of the four pubs located on each corner of the ground. I chose The Griffin, which seemed to be the most homely. Before entering the ground, I enjoyed the old fashioned nature of the ground, nestled in amongst terraced houses, and feeling quite sad that such grounds are rapidly disappearing. Once inside the ground, I made my way to the Ealing Road terrace behind one of the goals, a compact, covered, relatively modern stand which offers good unobstructed views of the action. When I previously visited Griffin Park, in 2009, I sat in the all-seater stand stretching the entire length on one side. An old structure, it has supporting pillars along the front and a gantry along the top could impede one's view if sat towards the back of the stand. On the opposite side is the Braemar Stand, all-seater with quite a low roof, and with a few supporting pillars along one half. Behind the other goal is the unusual looking double decker stand, with a small terrace along the bottom, and seating above, all in a very compact, box-like structure. Programmes can sometimes be hit and miss for League Cup fixtures, but the one produced for this fixture was very decent, 52 page with a glossy, hardened cover with had a retro design, and plenty of interesting reading material and statistics to digest.

This game looked a tall order for the visitors, with Brentford finishing in 11th place in the EFL Championship last season, and have opened this season with a 0-1 home defeat against Birmingham and then a 0-1 win at Middlesbrough, while Cambridge United had a battle against relegation from the EFL last season, eventually finishing in 21st place in the 24 team League Two, six points clear of  the relegation zone, and they have started this season with two goalless draws, away to Bradford then at home to Newport County. Recent history in this competition did not bode well for Cambridge, having lost eight of their last nine games. Interestingly, these two teams had not played each other since 2003, in the Football League Trophy.

On a sunny evening, this game got off to a surprising start, with the underdog visitors taking the lead with just three minutes on the clock. Brentford lost possession 25 yards out, the ball was played forward to Andrew Dallas in the area, and he passed the ball across the area to a completely unmarked Marc Richards 8 yards out in a central position, and although his initial shot was saved by the keeper, he tapped the rebound home. Brentford had made a lot of changes to their team for this fixture, and it showed as, although they controlled the game as Cambridge looked to remain tight and compact, they struggled to get their game together, and far too often gave possession away with misplaced passes. losing momentum too readily.

The pattern continued through into the second half, and Cambridge were holding their own well, and it was getting difficult to see how Brentford would get back on level terms, until they did on 70 minutes. Substitute Ollie Watkins, who had only come on 6 minutes previously took possession of the ball toward the outer edge of the penalty area, jinked around with the ball, just about keeping his footing before passing the ball low across to Michael Forss, who struck the ball first time in off the post. One wondered if that would open the floodgates for Brentford to go and win the tie in the remaining minutes, but although they did apply some pressure, they never really convinced that they would score again, and as the referee whistle blew, the game went straight to penalties - no extra time is played in this competition these days.

The penalties were taken in front of the Cambridge fans, after both teams scored their first penalties, they both saw their second ones saved. The third and fourth penalties were scored by both teams, but crucially, Brentford has their fifth saved, allowing Harvey Knibbs - on his professional debut - to win the game for Cambridge as he stroked the ball into the bottom left corner, sending the keeper the wrong way for quite an upset. Although Brentford did not field their first team, neither did Cambridge, who were rewarded for a disciplined, battling display while Brentford struggled all evening to impose themselves on the game.

Video highlights of the game can be watched by clicking here.

Brighton & Hove Albion U23 2 v 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers U23

Monday 12th August 2019
Premier League 2 Division One
Broadfield Stadium, Crawley
Admission: £5.00
Team Sheet: Free
Attendance: 300 (estimate)

Following my lunchtime game at Selhurst Park, I then made my way back to Selhurst rail station to catch a train south to Three Bridges rail station, from where I walked into Crawley town centre for early supper at the town's Wetherspoons, before heading down to the Broadfield Stadium, home of EFL League Two outfit Crawley Town, for this 7pm fixture.

Only the main stand was open for this fixture, with tickets being obtained from the one open turnstile this evening. There have been no noticeable changes to the ground since my last visit five years ago, with small covered terraces behind both goals, and a temporary looking all-seated stand stretching almost the entire length opposite the main stand. Views from the main stand are excellent, elevated and unobstructed, and hot food and drinks were served from a kiosk between the turnstile and the main stand. Team sheets were distributed shortly ahead of kick off, a glance at which showed that, unlike at the earlier game I watched at Crystal Palace, there would be no well-known first team members on display this evening, although Brighton's Irish striker Aaron Connolly was probably the stand-out player, having scored 11 goals in 15 games last season for the development squad, and scored a hat-trick against the MK Dons in the EFL Trophy. Steven Alzate has made 28 EFL appearances for Leyton Orient and Swindon, but has yet to play for the Brighton first team since signing in 2017, while defensive midfielder Tudor Baluta has 5 caps for Romania.

Happily the heavy rain that fell earlier - and which I dodged for the most part being under cover at the time, had long since disappeared, and this game was played in bright evening sunshine, although it remained rather cool for an August evening. The first half was a tight affair, with no really clear goalscoring chances created.

The second half started in much the same vein, although as the game wore on, there was more urgency in the game, and after Brighton had a goalbound shot by Taylor Richards blocked on 55 minutes, Wolves then looked the most likely to open the scoring, and Brighton had keeper Tom McGill to thank for keeping the scores level. First, on 65 minutes, he dived full stretch to his right hand post to save a shot from 8 yards out by Taylor Perry, whilst five minutes later, Ed Francis saw a free kick come back off the post. Brighton then came back into it and, following a corner, Alzate saw a powerful goalbound shot from close to the penalty spot hit a defender to go wide of the goal, and from the resultant corner, Brighton took the lead on 70 minutes. The ball was worked into the area and after Peter Gwargis had a shot blocked from the edge of the area, Connolly smashed the loose ball into the roof of the net. And Brighton doubled their lead two minutes later when Jordan Davies chipped the ball forward for Connolly to run onto and as the keeper came out to the edge of the penalty area, Connolly lobbed the ball over him and the ball bounced into net, shepherded by Gwargis to just prevent a defender clearing the ball. The game rather petered out after that, and Brighton claimed the three points on the opening day of the Premier League 2 season.

Highlights of this game can be viewed by clicking here

Crystal Palace U23 1 v 1 Birmingham City U23

Monday 12th August 2019
Professional Development League
Selhurst Park, Thornton Heath
Admission: £5.00
Team Sheet: Free
Attendance: 200 (estimate)

For the first day of my week's annual leave, I decided to take in a Development Double today, starting with this 1pm game at Selhurst Park, which would combine well with Brighton & Hove Albion's Under 23 fixture at Crawley Town's Broadfield Stadium in the evening.

Visiting Selhurst Park is always a bitter sweet experience for me. It is where I watched my first home games of Charlton Athletic, not really understanding at the time the significance of no longer playing at The Valley - as I had not supported them or even had much interest in football before 1985, but the six years Charlton played their home fixtures at Selhurst Park were some of bleakest in Charlton's history, for a variety of reasons, and even now it is still an eerie feeling for me setting foot in Selhurst Park. I had visited Selhurst Park as recently as January, to watch Crystal Palace's FA Cup game against Grimsby Town, when I sat right at the back of the Holmesdale Road stand behind one of the goals. Today would be the first time I would watch a game from the Main Stand. After purchasing a ticket at the Box Office tills in the club shop, access to the only seating area open today was gained via the Glazier's Lounge. The bar, the main feature of the lounge, was not open today, with a small kiosk open selling hot drinks, and shortly before kick off, team sheets were made available. And a glance at that showed that Crystal Palace would be fielding a very strong team today, most notably Gary Cahill, recently signed following his release from Chelsea, other new signings with Premier League pedigree, Republic of Ireland international James McCarthy from Everton, Victor Camarasa, who spent a successful season on loan at Cardiff City last season, and in goal Stephen Henderson, who had a good couple of seasons with Charlton from 2014 to 2016. By contrast, the Birmingham City line up was a very youthful one, for example their entire defence consisted of teenagers.

 

On an overcast afternoon with frequent heavy rain showers, the players came out to the club anthem "Glad All Over", and this was a match that Crystal Palace dominated for long periods, unsurprisingly given the experience in the respective teams, and in the first half, they did almost all of the attacking without creating any gilt edge chances, until the 27th minute, when Jason Lokilo crossed the ball to the back post, and Camarasa headed the ball down into the ground, and although the goalbound header bounced past the keeper, Gerardo Bajrami did excellently to acrobatically hook the ball off the line. There was considerable concern when Camarasa was on the end of a very strong challenge, after which he stayed down for some time and required treatment, but he was fine to continue and played the full 90 minutes. But for Crystal Palace's dominance, and Birmingham failing to get a shot on target, the scoreline remained goalless at half time.

That scoreline did not last long into the second half though, the deadlock being broken with a wonderful goal two minutes after the break. Camarasa sprayed the ball out to Giovanni McGregor by the left outer corner of the penalty area, who took a touch, cut inside before curling the ball beautifully over the keeper and into the net. Camarasa was the standout player, and on 65 minutes, his curling shot from 25 yards heading for the top right corner was palmed away by the keeper. Shortly afterwards, 17 year old Brandon Pierrick ran onto a perfectly weighted low diagonal ball through the defence but as he ran on towards goal, the keeper managed to smother the ball. But on 73 minutes, against all the odds, Birmingham scored an equaliser with virtually their first shot on goal. Camarasa was disposssed in midfield, Kane Thompson-Sommers threaded the ball low for Odin Bailey to run onto, and although his initial shot came back off the post, the ball bounced back to him, and he took a touch before striking the ball into a virtually unguarded net. Birmingham then went onto have their best period of the match, creating a couple of decent chances to win the game as the Palace players seemed to become a little sloppy with their play, and the game ended 1-1.

So, a good run out for new signings Camarasa, Cahill and McCarthy, all getting full 90 minute run-outs in front of first team manager Roy Hodgson in the stand, and Birmingham will be delighted with the way their very young team performed against much more experience opposition. This was an enjoyable, if slightly surreal experience, watching a game of football at a near empty stadium at lunch time on a working day.