Bees draw with Middlesbrough in dour stalemate
Brentford were held to a third successive home draw as they failed to break down Neil Warnock’s stubborn Middlesbrough side.
The Bees’ best chance fell to Vitaly Janelt, who blasted Henrik Dalsgaard’s cross over the bar from six yards out in the 61st minute.
For Boro, former Brentford loan striker Chuba Akpom flashed a shot just over in the 55th minute, and Lewis Wing nearly won it at the end, but there were few bright moments in the match.
Josh Dasilva and Ivan Toney did come close in the first half, but neither side did enough to prevent the Bees’ first goalless draw in 29 Championship games, since the one at Huddersfield in January.
After a string of early Boro free-kicks came to nothing, Dasilva finally had Brentford’s first chance in the 28th minute when he ran through and shot just wide from a Janelt pass, before, in the 41st minute, Toney’s shot was deflected past after he was put through by Mads Bech Sorensen.
Akpom had Boro’s first worthwhile effort in the 55th minute when he turned and fired over from Jonny Howson’s right-wing cross after a quick counter-attack.
Ethan Pinnock had a header cleared from inside the six-yard box by Anfernee Dijksteel, before Janelt lifted the ball high into the empty stands behind the goal after Dalsgaard’s cross fell into his path.
Boro finished the stronger, and Wing forced David Raya into his only real save of the match from a close-range shot in stoppage-time, but it ended goalless – leaving Brentford 11th in the table going into the international break.
Brentford: Raya, Dalsgaard, Henry, Pinnock, Sorensen, Janelt (Fosu 79), Jensen, Dasilva, Canos (Ghoddos 74), Mbeumo (Forss 67), Toney.
