Dean Smith’s return to Griffin Park following his departure for current side Aston Villa was a miserable one after seeing his side miss out a point in the final minutes of the game through a Neal Maulpay winner.
Promotion hopefuls Aston Villa will likely be disappointed with the result leaving the south but likely not surprised given just how poorly they performed on the day.
Brentford certainly good value for their victory.
The home side rained down 23 shots on Villa’s goal whose feeble response amounted to only 6 (via BBC Sport).
Under new boss Thomas Frank ‘The Bees’ have only tasted defeat on one occasion in twelve games, and that was against a newly reformed Nottingham Forest team on Saturday.
The form of the game was established fairly early on with Sergi Canos testing the hands of Villa keeper Lovre Kalinic with a beautifully struck volley.
Efforts from Odubajo and Benrahma would also come close but were not enough to break the deadlock.
Halftime 0-0.
Brentford started the game how they left it with more commanding play. Canos was again involved in opening up Villa’s defence when he provided for Maupay, but the eventual winning scorer was unable to convert.
It was the 91st minute before Brentford were finally able to capitalise on their dominance Neal Maupay scoring his 18th league goal of the season.
Despite some pretty awful performances across the board, Villa can be pleased with very select few players who did their best, and almost succeeded, at keeping out the marauding Bees.
With that said, our unsung hero of Villa’s game is Tyrone Mings.
It could have only gone to one of the away side’s defenders who were left totally vulnerable by their midfielders weak efforts.
Mings put in a characteristically tough performance and tried his best to keep Brentford’s players at bay and was perhaps a little unlucky on the day to see his efforts (and only his) rewarded.
He used his height and stature to dominate throughout the game, and was found to be commanding his teammates on more than one occasion in an attempt to improve their performance.
Another solid performance for the young man on-loan from Bournemouth.
