McCormack injured as Bees are beaten

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Bolton 3 Brentford 1

Alan McCormack was stretchered off midway through the second half as Brentford were beaten in Neil Lennon’s first home match as Bolton manager.

McCormack suffered what looked like an ankle injury as he was brought down while trying to burst through two Wanderers players.

He required lengthy treatment and was clearly in some distress before being taken from the field.

Neil Danns’ 25-yarder had put Bolton ahead, and six minutes after the Bees lost McCormack substitute Mark Davies drifted into the box and fired past David Button.

Jon Toral, just on as a substitute, scored with seven minutes remaining – his first goal for Brentford – when he controlled nicely and shot into the roof of the net after being found by Tommy Smith.

In the final seconds, Bolton broke forward after Button had gone forward for a Bees corner and Craig Davies was able to score into an empty net.

At 2-1 the impressive Toral had set up Alan Judge, who missed a great chance to equalise when he was unable to connect.

Judge had missed a chance to open the scoring three minutes before the break, shooting wide after Moses Odubajo had beaten his man and crossed from the right.

Alex Pritchard also missed a decent opprtunity, firing straight at Wanderers keeper Andy Lonergan from 10 yards out after being found by Jota.

And in the final seconds of a first half the visitors shaded, Judge had a shot tipped away by Lonergan and Jake Bidwell headed over from the resulting corner.

Brentford also had a good spell of pressure early in the second half, but suddenly Bolton began to assert themselves.

Matt Mills went close for the home side when he headed wide from Jay Spearing’s corner, before Button produced a fine near-post save to deny Danns.

But Danns hit the corner of the net on 61 minutes with a fine strike and Mark Davies showed Brentford no mercy after McCormack’s injury, collecting the ball on the edge of the box before moving into a shooting position and finishing nicely.

Toral made an immediate impact after coming on and the visitors had Bolton worried in the closing minutes, but they held on before scoring again to seal Lennon’s first victory.

Brentford: Button, McCormack (Smith 70), Dean, Craig, Bidwell, Douglas, Odubajo, Pritchard (Toral 80), Judge, Jota (Diagouraga 64), Gray.
Subs not used: Bonham, Tarkowski, Yennaris, Proschwitz.

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