Injuries force Frank to get creative in Bees friendly

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Injury-hit Brentford drew 1-1 draw at Watford in their latest pre-season friendly.

The Bees were forced to field Kristoffer Ajer at left-back and young midfielder Ryan Trevitt at right-back, with Rico Henry and Aaron Hickey still yet to feature in pre-season.

Just two weeks from the opening Premier League game, against Crystal Palace, boss Thomas Frank was also without Ethan Pinnock, Vitaly Janelt, Mads Roerslev and Keane Lewis-Potter against the Hornets.


Ben Mee, Josh Dasilva and summer signing Igor Thiago are all long-term absentees.

Brentford took the lead at Vicarage Road after just five minutes when Kevin Schade headed home a Trevitt cross.

However, they were pegged back within minutes when keeper Mark Flekken gave the ball away in his own penalty area and was then beaten by a deflected Moussa Sissoko shot.

Frank’s side pushed for a winner in the second half and came closest when great work by Mikkel Damsgaard set up Yoanne Wissa for a shot that was saved by Daniel Bachmann in the Watford goal.

The Brentford squad is set to be boosted by Ivan Toney’s return to training on Monday following his exploits for England at Euro 2024.

Brentford: Flekken (Cox h/t): Trevitt (Yarmoliuk h/t), Collins, Kim (Zanka h/t), Ajer (McManus 63); Damsgaard (Yogane 77), Norgaard (Onyeka 63), Jensen (Konak 77); Mbeumo (Morgan 77), Wissa, Schade (Peart-Harris 63).