Brentford-Mad.co.uk Season Review 2005/06 - December

Last updated : 26 July 2006 By Smallsy
After recapturing some form and starting to hit the back of the net with decent regularity Brentford went into December hoping to be successful on two fronts.

With their League campaign still suffering from the occasional stutter their fourth position was major bonus and with the FA Cup second round the first business of December it was key for the Bees to start this month as they did the last, with a hard fought win.

Having played Oldham just two weeks previous the game was understandably tight and it was on supprise that the game ended in a stalemate with Sodje scoring in the second half to respond to a penalty from Liddell.

Just three days later the Bees hosted Yeovil and moved up to third place with a 3-2 win over the Glovers, but only just as Michael Turner's fourth goal of the season came in the nick of time.
Despite taking a 2-0 lead a resilliant Yeovil fought back to make it 2-2 but Turner scored for the bees when it mattered in the final two minutes to keep Brentford in the hunt for an automatic promotion place.

With manager Martin Allen chosing to focus on his side's cup form he made serval changes to the team which played Chesterfield the following Saturday. The Griffin Park faithful were treated to another late goal as this time it was O'Connor who resuced the Bees with an excellent strike from close range.

It was just the perk up that the club needed with all their hopes resting on the Cup replay with Oldham. Griffin Park was forced to hold it's breath for long periods of time as the game was once more a close encounter but a late goal from Lloyd Owusu was enough to send Brentford into the third round of the FA Cup and keep the side who'd played four games in ten days unbeaten in December.

Presumably on a high from their Cup heroics Brentford posted their top result of the season with a 4-1 victory over Tranmere at Penton Park in their next game of the month. With the Merseysiders a fading force from what they were in 2004/05 Brentford lifted themselves into second place for the first time since October.

Newman and Tabb gave Brentford a two goal cushion before Calvin Zola got one back for Tranmere. It was not to be however for Rovers as they simply fell to pieces in the second half conceeding to Owusu and O'Connor before having several chances themselved but failing to register another goal.

With most thoughts looking to the New Year programme, Brentford faced a tough challenge if they wanted to show what they were made of in 2006. Facing two home games against two of the top six the bees first did battle with Swansea.

A huge crowd turned out at Griffin Park to will their team on and they were rewarded by a 2-1 victory against first placed Swansea to send the Bees leapfrogging over the Swans into pole position. Goals from O'Connor and Hutchinson were enough to deny Swansea a place at the top of the League heading into 2006.

Brentford's grip of first place however was loosenend when they faced their final challenge of the year against Colchester but were defeated 2-0 by the U's. Saldy for Brentford defeat meant a relegation to third position and a disapointing end to a year which had promised to much. Another huge crowd turned out at Griffin Park but were once again trated to a difficult and uneasy home performance by their club as two goals from Mark Yeates were enough to reward Colchester with an early New Years present.

With another year in the book, it was time for Brentford to head into 2006 and home that the fate which had befelled them 12 months earlier was not about to strike again.