Brentford 2 - 1 Rotherham

Brentford’s 6^th home game of the season was against Rotherham as they looked to stop the run of 3 games without winning despite still sitting pretty in 4^th place. The game saw the return of Deon Burton. Many fans were disappointed to see him go but would Deon get the last laugh?

Prior to the match Brian Burgess came onto the pitch to tell the fans that Bees United had not made the 1 Million GBP but now had a further four months, until the 31^st January, at which to raise another 250,000 GBP.

It took six and a half minutes for the first goal and you could have guessed who it would be. Gary Montgomery played a long ball from inside his own half and while Stuart Nelson rushed out Deon Burton was able to head the ball over him and Sam Sodje to give Rotherham the lead. Burton stunned most fans by running back to the half way line to get on with the job in hand.

However, Rotherham could only hold onto their lead for four minutes. Gary Montgomery pulled down Lloyd Owusu and conceded a penalty. Kevin O’Connor stepped up and put the ball into the left hand corner of the goal, sending the keeper the wrong way, to give Brentford an equaliser and silencing the Rotherham fans.

Brentford then wanted to capitalise on their equaliser and force an opening. The lively Isaiah Rankin tried to force his way through but had his shot blocked. Sam Sodje headed over from a Jay Tabb cross. Brentford made their dominance count in the 37^th minute…

Paul Brooker got down the right wing and threaded a delightful ball through to Isaiah Rankin who drilled the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. The home fans were extremely happy at this turnaround but knew not to celebrate victory until the final whistle had been blown.

Brentford managed to get to half time leading 2-1. The crowd were happy but were annoyed again at the lack of communication between goalkeeper and defender.

Rotherham brought on Leadbitter for Worrell in a bid to turn things around and get an equaliser but it was Brentford who continued to dominate. Michael Turner had a header over the bar.

Stuart Nelson made up for his earlier error by producing a stunning save to prevent Martin Butler scoring Rotherham’s equaliser.

A wonderful piece of passing football from Brentford led to producing a smart save from Montgomery off a Paul Brooker thunderbolt. It was to be Paul Brooker’s last bit of goalmouth action in the game as he was brought off to be replaced by livewire Alex Rhodes. Rotherham brought off Michael Keane for Will Hoskins.

Lloyd Owusu also nearly got his home account off the mark when he headed over from an Andrew Frampton cross.

Brentford held on and gained the three points they wanted and deserved. The only way is up for the bees and Oldham is next up on Sunday week.

Brentford

S Nelson, K O'Connor, S Sodje, M Turner, A Frampton, P Brooker (68 A Rhodes) , J Lewis, D Pratley, J Tabb, L Owusu, I Rankin

Subs: A Bankole, E Hutchinson, M Gayle, A Rhodes, D Campbell

Rotherham

G Montgomery, D Worrell (45 G Leadbitter) , S Barker, C Murdock, G Robertson, J Otsemobor, P McLaren, J Mullin, M Keane (72 W Hoskins) , M Butler, D Burton

Subs: N Cutler, W Hoskins, P Hurst, P Vernazza, G Leadbitter

Ref: B Knight

Att: 5901

Possession:

Brentford 49%

Rotherham 51%

Shots:

Brentford 12

Rotherham 6

Corners:

Brentford 8

Rotherham 6

Fouls:

Brentford 13

Rotherham 18

Bookings:

Brentford 0

Rotherham 1