Brentford 0 - 2 Bournmouth - The fanzone view

Last updated : 31 October 2005 By Smallsy
As the clouds darkened over Griffin Park at 2:55pm many Brentford fans feared that the teams poor current form could play a part in re-ignighting the season at home this weekend.

However come 5pm the same afternoon many Brentford fans will have been wishing the dark clouds had bucketed down on their stadium and cancelled what was a bad game from Brentford to lose.

The first twenty minutes looked solid, knocking the ball around nicely, Owusu, Rankin and Campbell clearly appeared to be enjoying the wonderful stadium surface. As soon as James Hayter's goal went in panic seemed to decend on the Bees as passes started to go astray and people started to get frustrated.

It took an effort from DJ Campbell to wake the game up however as quick as inspiration had come it went as soon as the second Bournmouth goal went in.

Frustrated on the sidelines Martin Allen motioned in his familiar way for his team to keep their heads up but as energy drained from the manager himself who resorted to an unfamiliar sitting position in the second half, the hope and ability of his players to score a goal eluded the home side.

Owusu won at least 80% of headers but 100% of second balls were won by Bournmouth who scraped hard and denyied Brentford any space. The game was a case of Bournmouth's excellence against Brentford's lack of ideas and ineptitude in the final third.

Indeed Brentford seemed to threaten only when Sam Sodje brought the ball out of defense, hope faded however when the ball reached a Brentford attacker who in the case of Campbell and Rankin were muscled off the ball or Owusu who didnt look up to the task.

The boos which rang of at the end of the game were themselves deserved and the players apologetic applauding of the crowd hardly helped but the simple fact is that Brentford need to have no more days like yesterday if they hope to be promoted.

Player ratings

Nelson - Looked tentative, unlucky with the second goal but needs to be more commanding and use more common sense with delivery of free and goal kicks.

O'Connor - Looked solid, lacked any options going forward so forced to play long, defended ok against a good opponent.

Turner - Played disapointingly during first half, looked more confident in the second half, held onto the ball for to long and resorted to route one passes late on.

Sodje - The only positive in the Brentford side, looked good defensively and coming forward, had some heading oppertunities and should have done better.

Frampton - Hardly featured,did what he had to do well but was beaten too easily by movement of Bournmouth strikers.

Rankin - Looked out of position in the first half, played better when through the middle, unlucky not to score but will be disapointed with his overall contribution.

Lewis - Played poorly, looked out of position and unaware of his constant defensive duties, won some good headers but overall will be disatisfied.

Hutchinson - Did ok in the first half but was too easily beaten and often caught out of position, didnt create anything going forward but linked well with defensive in intercepting passes.

Tabb - Worked hard but with little to show for it. Looked lightweight and not confident.

Owusu - Won plenty of headers but needed to vary his choices. Didn't looked confident in poesession or capable of beating an opponent.

Campell - Looked sprightly upfront but threatened very little, needed to run at the defense more than he did. Liked ok with strikers but werent penetrative enough in the final third.

Subs

Brooker - Hardly featured but looked good when he did, should have been used more as an outlet as his pace would have helped create more chances.

Newman - Did well in setting up attacks but gave the ball away too frequantly, needs more games to improve his overall contribution.

Tillen - Looked promising when he came on and set up some chances, needed better service to be more effective but did well with what he recieved.