After a 4- nil win away from home against Bristol City the league table looks wild:
Tucked in behind the leaders
Category: Sport
In the news- such a big club-
from the Guardian
French market trips can propel Frank’s Brentford to new heights
The Bees hope shrewd recruitment can fire a Premier League promotion push after ditching their academy
Wed 18 Dec 2019 11.00 GMTLast modified on Wed 18 Dec 2019 11.22 GMT
“The BMW is still running fast,” said Thomas Frank, the Brentford head coach, referring to Saïd Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins after watching his three-pronged attack combine to devastating effect against Fulham at Griffin Park on Saturday. Watkins carried the ball to the edge of the box, where Benrahma took over, buying a yard of space before scooping a cross towards the back post for Mbeumo to fire the only goal of the game, his eighth of the campaign. Brentford will leave their 115-year-old stadium at the end of this season and have designs of going out with a bang.
Mbeumo, a £5.5m club-record signing, has scored in Brentford’s past four matches, including a 7-0 demolition of Luton. The 20-year-old winger is the latest Brentford player to make a seamless transition from Ligue 2 to the Championship after joining from Troyes in the summer, following in the footsteps of Benrahma and Neal Maupay, the striker who moved to Brighton in August for £16m after two prolific seasons.
Benrahma was a £2.7m signing from Nice after impressing on loan at Châteauroux, and Maupay a £1.6m arrival from Saint-Étienne after shining at Brest. The defender Julian Jeanvier, in effect John Egan’s replacement 18 months ago, joined from Reims, while Maxime Colin, now of Birmingham, piqued Brentford’s interest at Troyes. Yoann Barbet, now of Queens Park Rangers, joined in 2015 after a season at Chamois Niortais.
It is not only in the French market where Brentford have found joy; Watkins was a £1.8m buy from Exeter City in 2017, and in the summer they paid Barnsley £3m for Ethan Pinnock, who was playing for Dulwich Hamlet three years ago. Pinnock has been paired in central defence with Pontus Jansson, who was made captain after arriving from Leeds United in July. The pair in effect replaced Ezri Konsa and Chris Mepham, who this year sealed Premier League moves to Aston Villa and Bournemouth respectively, bringing in £27m.
Brentford have sold almost £100m of talent since 2014 and sales are vital to countering the club’s £10m-£20m annual operating loss. At 28, Jansson represented a noticeable shift, being the oldest outfield player to join since Lasse Vibe four years ago, but strengthening the defence was a priority.
Football trip down memory lane
In my mind there was always the memory that my first visit to watch a professional football match was at Griffin Park to watch the Brentford, the Super Bees, was against Crewe Alexandra with a result of 1-0. I went with Patrick who was a Brentford regular and at that stage of course a shareholder of one share following the rescue of the club in 1967.
I did some research, the wonders of stuff online, and found the result of 1-0 against Crewe. So it was the 71/72 season on December 27- so clearly the equivalent of the Boxing Day game.
and clearly a successful season with promotion. Though looking through the results they bounced down within one season back to Division 4.
So memory not all bad. First game at Griffin Park aged 8.
And now we are in the final season at Griffin Park, I am in year 2 as a season ticket holder and the move to Lionel Road is imminent.
A special cricket match-
is it now Stoke’s Ashes?
The visit to Headingley by Joe and I turned out to be one of those ‘I was there ‘ moments. The Third Test match in the Ashes series turned out to be a classic.
Joe and I bought the tickets for this match last October and it was not possible to obtain tickets for either of the London venues. It turned out to be a significant outlay as only the more expensive tickets were available ; £130 for day three and £65 for day 4. Also being the Bank Holiday weekend the trains fares were ridiculous and the hotel not cheap. It just so happens that there were other events going on in the area- Leeds music festival all weekend and horse racing in York.
So the place was rammed and the trains very busy. From Chesterfield to Leeds on the Saturday there was cramped, shoulder to shoulder standing room only.
On the way the outcome of the match did not look bright with England having been bowled out for a paltry 67 on day 2. I was anticipating another poor batting display after the Australian 2nd innings and the action to be all over by the end of day 3. However it did not turn out that way.
After finishing off the Australian 2nd innings better than expected England actually batted for the most part like it was a Test Match rather than a T-20 match. Though Roy hadn’t learned. Root and Denly played controlled and measured cricket and kept England in the match. Until Denly was out and Stokes came in towards the end of the day. We sat and watched and enjoyed the slow and tense and conservative tempo. Joe and I retired to the town for a fancy burger and couple of beers before bedtime. We we tired- having got up at 4-00 to catch the early train.
On Sunday they came out to resume needing just over 200 to win with 7 wickets standing. It wasn’t long before Root was back in the pavilion and it looked all so unlikely.
There were periods of optimism but wickets continued to fall though Stokes was still there keeping the ball out snd hitting a few runs. Finally he was left with the number 11 and 73 still needed. The game changed and was a classic to watch. As Leach defended his wicket and Stokes consoled the strike so that Leech had 1 02 balls to face, ran suck twos to keep the stroke and began to hit wonderful boundaries. The crowd were active and loving the moment. Cheering the big hits- straight and concocted and the blocking at the other end.
The runs needed were falling and the excitement rose. The Aussies were feeling the pressure. The bowling remained great to watch but errors occurred; in the fielding, the throw to the wrong end, the missed easy run out by Nathan Lyon, the wasted use of a review which left a more clear lbw that was not given un-reviewable.
In the end a fantastic run chase, Stokes 135 not out, Leach noon -out on 1 having batted stoically, the crowd going wild and the press/ media calling it the best batting performance ever and best Test Match ever.
As ever one man gets the attention with some for Leach for his great innings of 1 not-out.
Not so much written about the solid and more dull batting from others to set the platform Stokes did bat so well and adapted his approach extremely well to the changing needs of the match.
The media have gone will not surprisingly – like everyone else for that matter.
Ben Stokes century leads England to epic Ashes-saving win at Headingley
By Stephan Shemilt
BBC Sport at Headingley
| Men’s Ashes: Third Specsavers Test, Headingley (day four of five) |
| Australia 179(Labuschagne 74, Archer 6-45) & 246(Labuschagne 80) |
| England 67(Hazlewood 5-30) & 362-9 (Stokes 135*, Root 77, Hazlewood 4-85) |
| England won by one wicket |
| Scorecard |
Ben Stokes inspires England to sensational third Test win over Australia
Ashes 2019•Australia 179 & 246, England 67 & 362-9
•Stokes hits 135 not out as home side level the series at 1-1Supported byAbout this content
Vic Marksat Headingley
Ben Stokes (centre) and Jack Leach lift their arms in celebration after the former hit the winning runs at Headingley. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Headingley 1981 was a foregone conclusion compared with this. So, too, the World Cup final in July, as Ian Botham’s incredible exploits of 38 years ago have been matched, maybe surpassed. But on a day like this who cares about rankings anyway? Ben Stokes produced the innings of a lifetime to snatch a one-wicket victory, which keeps the Ashes alive and the game alive, while threatening to cause multiple heart failures among those lucky enough to witness this contest.
So in the end Joe and I had a great sporting weekend that did not look that promising. Ah the beauty of Test Cricket.
Sunday Times
Not quite making history
Ireland cricketers do not quite keep up the momentum
I was at Lord’s today to watch Ireland play England in the first test match between the two countries. Today day was day 3 of a possible 4 though the action was over quickly.
There was anticipation at the beginning of the day as Ireland needed one more wicket to take and then bat for an historic and unpacked win.
They took the last wicket with the first ball and then had a target of 188 to win. They had shocked and embarrassed England by getting them out for 85 in the first innings. Not exactly the warm-up England were looking for before the start of the Ashes.
Unfortunately it did not go anywhere near to plan with the quick and then sustained tumble of wickets under cloudy conditions and with Woakes and Broad dangerous in the conditions. Ireland were all out for 38. Sad.
A disappointing end and a very quick exposure for my £50 on the day ticket. Though I will receive 50% back for the shortened period of entertainment. I was supporting Ireland as I watched the irritating play of England. They were expected to win easily from the outset but screwed up and played badly at the beginning. It was all high fives and jumping about. I thought this was over the top in the circumstances.
Back to being an England supporter next week when they play Australia. Not currently optimistic.
We woz there
For the first time I watched the Boat Race from the banks of the Thames. Never been that interested- rowing for one and Oxbridge for the other. But as we still live by the Thames it had to be a good idea to go.
I do like the sporting prowess of the people who compete in these sort of things and we did have a bit of buy-in as we had seen the crews training in he last couple of months along by Putney Bridge and outside our window.
However it was all celebrity rower and not a concentration of the teams in the end.
Dad and Son and football
The weekend action at Griffin Park featured the visit of WBA with one ‘Baggies’ supporter sitting next to me. Unfortunately for Joe he could not get a ticket to sit in the away supporters end and had to accept sitting with me and the Brentford supporters.
It was not a good game with both sides playing poorly and making errors. WBA scored a good solo goal but rest of the performance was limited.
But it was good Dad and son time. A fine cycle in history as of course Joe holds his allegiance to WBA as it was his first game I took him to when we lived in the West Midlands. He was nearly or a little more than 5. The first game was against Nottingham Forest. I think he lasted until about half time. I took him again but I cannot remember who against when he lasted longer.
Football inculcation. How it is always done.
FA Cup drama- the wrong sort?
Brentford struggle against non-league Barnet- but a cup classic.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/47036957
Trip to Griffin Park
A overcast day and disappointing game against the Swans.
Brentford played poorly and offered little to give confidence. Not helped by letting in a goal within 20 seconds. 3-nil down within 20 something minutes and a crowd that could not find more than a whisper.
There was murmuring everywhere with the typical reaction to sack the manager. I am not sure of the necessary response but his hold on employment does look precarious.