Chesterfield had grabbed a point against QPR the previous Saturday by employing defensive tactics and Brentford normally struggle to break these sort of sides down.Would this night be different for the Bees? No was the empathic and disappointing answer for Brentford.
The Bees were coming off a 3-0 win at Wrexham the previous Saturday but manager Steve Coppell was forced into one change with Paul Gibbs coming in on the left flank to replace the suspended Stephen Hunt.
From the start it was very clear that Chesterfield were going to employ the same tactics which had frustrated QPR.Marshalled by the excellent Steve Blatherwick in the heart of the Spireite's defence they stuck 5 men across the back line and were quite content to defend in numbers from front to back.Matters were not helped in the 16th minute when Darren Powell injured himself making a challenge on the byline.He was carried off and replaced by Kevin O'Connor who went on the right hand side of midfield.Martin Rowlands moved to the left,Paul Gibbs dropped back to left back and Ijah Anderson took Powell's role in central defence.Many sides would have struggled to adapt to that many changes and Brentford were no exception as they looked unbalanced in the initial aftermath of Powell's departure.It took them until late on in the first half to establish some sort of pattern in the game whilst in the meantime Chesterfield had a chance to stiffle the game and set the tempo of the game to their particular requirements,which they did very well.
Clear cut chances were at a premium for Brentford in the first half,the best of which saw Martin Rowlands fire over the bar in the 28th minute whilst Paul Evans saw a long range free kick easily saved by Nathan Abbey in the Chesterfield goal.As for the Spireites their best moment saw Jamie Burt race into the box.He was all set to pull the trigger when Ivar Ingimarsson made a timely interception to deny him a goalscoring opportunity.
That was it as far as the first half went.The second half started with Brentford trying to increase the pressure on the Spireites goal.Rowlands with another effort over the bar and Evans with 2 further long range free kicks both came close for the Bees as they started to build up momentum.However for all their efforts the visitors defence was resolute and determined not to let the Bees break through.It was going to take a moment of genius or a mistake to let the Bees in.It was the latter that so very nearly let the Bees in on the 63 minute mark.A free kick on the left was swung into the box by Paul Evans.It was missed by all the Spireite defenders and the ball headed towards the unmarked Ben Burgess at the far post.All he had to do was head the ball down and it wasone-nil.Unfortunately he didn't get any downward purchase on his header and the ball smacked against the bar and was cleared by the grateful Chesterfield defence.
After that there was no real way you could see either team scoring.Chesterfield did have a couple of breakaway chances but these amounted to nothing whilst try as they might the Bees could not make any impression on the visitors goal as Abbey denied Rowlands,Evans and Burgess.In the end referee Paul Alcock decided to put us out of our misery and blew the final whistle to send the majority of the crowd home disappointed.
So 2 points dropped by the Bees then.To be fair to Chesterfield they defended really well and more than deserved a point whilst Brentford were obviously unsettled by the loss of Powell early on.Let's hope normal service can be resumed against Wycombe on Saturday.
Match Ratings
Paul Smith 6
Michael Dobson 6
Ijah Anderson 7
Ivar Ingimarsson 8*
Darren Powell 6
Martin Rowlands 7
Paul Gibbs 5
Paul Evans (c) 6
Steve Sidwell 5
Lloyd Owusu 5
Ben Burgess 6
Subs
Kevin O'Connor(for Powell 18 mins) 5
Mark Williams(for Owusu 81 mins) 6
Alan Julian n/a
Danny Boxall n/a
Mark McCammon n/a
The Bees were coming off a 3-0 win at Wrexham the previous Saturday but manager Steve Coppell was forced into one change with Paul Gibbs coming in on the left flank to replace the suspended Stephen Hunt.
From the start it was very clear that Chesterfield were going to employ the same tactics which had frustrated QPR.Marshalled by the excellent Steve Blatherwick in the heart of the Spireite's defence they stuck 5 men across the back line and were quite content to defend in numbers from front to back.Matters were not helped in the 16th minute when Darren Powell injured himself making a challenge on the byline.He was carried off and replaced by Kevin O'Connor who went on the right hand side of midfield.Martin Rowlands moved to the left,Paul Gibbs dropped back to left back and Ijah Anderson took Powell's role in central defence.Many sides would have struggled to adapt to that many changes and Brentford were no exception as they looked unbalanced in the initial aftermath of Powell's departure.It took them until late on in the first half to establish some sort of pattern in the game whilst in the meantime Chesterfield had a chance to stiffle the game and set the tempo of the game to their particular requirements,which they did very well.
Clear cut chances were at a premium for Brentford in the first half,the best of which saw Martin Rowlands fire over the bar in the 28th minute whilst Paul Evans saw a long range free kick easily saved by Nathan Abbey in the Chesterfield goal.As for the Spireites their best moment saw Jamie Burt race into the box.He was all set to pull the trigger when Ivar Ingimarsson made a timely interception to deny him a goalscoring opportunity.
That was it as far as the first half went.The second half started with Brentford trying to increase the pressure on the Spireites goal.Rowlands with another effort over the bar and Evans with 2 further long range free kicks both came close for the Bees as they started to build up momentum.However for all their efforts the visitors defence was resolute and determined not to let the Bees break through.It was going to take a moment of genius or a mistake to let the Bees in.It was the latter that so very nearly let the Bees in on the 63 minute mark.A free kick on the left was swung into the box by Paul Evans.It was missed by all the Spireite defenders and the ball headed towards the unmarked Ben Burgess at the far post.All he had to do was head the ball down and it wasone-nil.Unfortunately he didn't get any downward purchase on his header and the ball smacked against the bar and was cleared by the grateful Chesterfield defence.
After that there was no real way you could see either team scoring.Chesterfield did have a couple of breakaway chances but these amounted to nothing whilst try as they might the Bees could not make any impression on the visitors goal as Abbey denied Rowlands,Evans and Burgess.In the end referee Paul Alcock decided to put us out of our misery and blew the final whistle to send the majority of the crowd home disappointed.
So 2 points dropped by the Bees then.To be fair to Chesterfield they defended really well and more than deserved a point whilst Brentford were obviously unsettled by the loss of Powell early on.Let's hope normal service can be resumed against Wycombe on Saturday.
Match Ratings
Paul Smith 6
Michael Dobson 6
Ijah Anderson 7
Ivar Ingimarsson 8*
Darren Powell 6
Martin Rowlands 7
Paul Gibbs 5
Paul Evans (c) 6
Steve Sidwell 5
Lloyd Owusu 5
Ben Burgess 6
Subs
Kevin O'Connor(for Powell 18 mins) 5
Mark Williams(for Owusu 81 mins) 6
Alan Julian n/a
Danny Boxall n/a
Mark McCammon n/a