Maupay and Watkins give Bees victory over Ipswich
Brentford 2 Ipswich 0
Brentford saw off the relegation haunted Tractor Boys with a comfortable victory at Griffin Park, thanks to first half goals from Neal Maupay and Ollie Watkins.
Bees chief Thomas Frank will, presumably, be satisfied with the night’s work and, on another occasion, the scoreline could have been far more emphatic as Ipswich, unsurprisingly, offered precious little quality of their own.
Brentford, who had drawn 3-3 at home to Derby County on Saturday – a match as ill-tempered as it was entertaining – made two changes against the Championship’s rock bottom outfit. Moses Odubajo and Josh Dasilva came in for Henrik Dalsgaard and Kamo Mokotjo.
Meanwhile, there was a welcome returnee from the Ipswich side to Griffin Park. Alan Judge, such a popular figure, who spent five years at the Bees, was in midfield and received a warm pre-match welcome from the home fans.
With Frank’s side sitting in mid-table comfort and Ipswich essentially all but doomed, it was no surprise that the early periods were particularly disjointed. Therefore it was something of a surprise that the game surged into life within the space of sixty seconds.
Firstly, Ipswich striker Andre Dozzell clipped the ball over Bees’ goalkeeper Luke Daniels, only to hit the post following a nicely threaded ball by Judge – and then Brentford struck clinically in the 20th minute.
Powering through the middle, Said Benrahma managed to skip past a couple of defenders before Maupay picked up the loose ball to fire past Town keeper Bartosz Bialkowski, who was unfortunately left exposed.
Just eight minutes later, Brentford offered up another lesson in taking chances when they added a second. With Ipswich in rearguard disarray, creator-in-chief Benrahma was again at the heart of the matter, unselfishly setting up Watkins who casually swept home from close range.
The Bees were growing into a finely tuned rhythm, their attacking unit of Watkins, Benhrahma and Maupay looking interchangably precise. And it was the latter, who went inches wide with a raking 20 yard shot as the west Londoners sought to kill the contest before half time.
Like the feisty clash against Derby, things threatened to get unsavoury in the second half and, on one occasion, Toto Nsiala went in late on Maupay with the Ipswich man booked once the melee between several players subsided.
Frank freshened things with twin 70th minute substitutions, Sergi Canos and Emiliano Marcondes coming on for Maupay and Benrahma. Daniels, meanwhile, had to be alert to turn over a speculative high effort from the left by Ipswich substitute Tristan Nydam.
Judge did waste an opportunity with an unhindered sight of goal in the latter stages but, nevertheless, it was a rare moment of mild concern within a relatively dull second period – and what turned out to be a tidy evening for Brentford, who consolidated their 14th place in the table.
