Bees lose at Swansea in play-off first leg
Brentford lost the first leg of the play-off semi-final – their third consecutive defeat.
They played most of the second half with 10 men at the Liberty Stadium, where Rico Henry was sent off shortly after David Raya saved Andre Ayew’s 64th-minute penalty.
Ayew redeemed himself by rounding off a crisp Swansea move with a thunderous left-footed strike beyond Raya with nine minutes remaining.
Keeper Raya had dived to his left to keep out Ayew’s spot-kick after Pontus Jansson had tripped Rhian Brewster.
Henry was controversially red-carded a minute later for a challenge on Connor Roberts despite appearing to win the ball.
Brentford, whose two defeats at the end of the regular season cost them automatic promotion, had a let-off in the first half when Ayew’s header hit the post and Brewster planted his follow-up straight at Raya.
The visitors did create chances. Ollie Watkins had a header saved and sent two other headers wide, Said Benrahma blasted over and Mathias Jensen dragged a shot wide of the target.
They were the better side for much of the game and can feel hopeful ahead of the second leg on Wednesday – the final match at Griffin Park before Brentford move to their new stadium.
Brentford: Raya, Dalsgaard, Jansson, Pinnock, Henry, Jensen (Baptiste 85), Dasilva (Rasmussen
70), Norgaard, Mbeumo (Marcondes 70), Watkins, Benrahma (Castillo 85).
27/07/2020 @ 10:36 am
Oh dear Oh dear, wheels starting to come off? – as I said at the beginning of the season to a snotty Bees fan constantly slagging off QPR – he who laughs last……….. Im starting to grin now the pressures building up.