Brentford 1 Oldham 1

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Bees unable to prove more than a point

The Bees were yesterday reminded that they had gone up a division after dominating at home to Oldham, but conceding a goal of sublime quality by Nick Blackman.

In front of a patchy Griffin Park crowd - it looked like the Bank Holiday had claimed a few regulars to me - Brentford put in a decent performance and in truth should have won the game. However Oldham created some dangerous chances of their own on the break, and Lewis Price made one fantastic save in the first half whilst Kiegan Parker rounded Price late in the game but failed to score from an accute angle.

Whilst we are still unbeaten we are undoubtably missing Charlie Macdonald up front as we fail to turn posession into goals. Myles Weston is tricky and pacy but things simply aren't quite coming off for him at the moment. Carl Cort showed some real quality at times yesterday but looks completely shot shy and could certainly have opened his Bees account yesterday if he had showed a strikers bloody-mindedness.

Brentford's goal came from a jinking run from Sam Saunders (playing on the left after a reshuffle due to a Ryan Dickson injury) who was upended by Oldham defender Holdsworth. O'Connor then smashed home the resulting penalty kick.

Oldham's equaliser came in the second half when David Hunt valiantly charged down a shot. The ball broke to an Oldham player who looped a cross across the pitch which was brilliantly controlled by forward Blackman before he curled a beauty into the top corner of Price's goal.

Brentford then went on the attack for most of the remainder of the game, with James Wilson looking dangerous on the end of set pieces and Cleveland Taylor screwing a shot just wide after some fine approach play from substitute Steve Kabba. Kabba also had what looked like a valid appeal for a penalty turned down after he was manhandled in the box.

This match report wouldn't be complete without mention of a farcical performance from referee Hegley who managed to produce a game that was completely unable to flow. The inconsistency in his decisions was pitiful and I certainly felt for Carl Cort who didn't appear to get a single decision in his favour all afternoon. Oldham's Kiegan Parker must also have been amazed at returning home without a booking or sending off for a variety of offences.

Some credit should be given to Oldham's Sean Gregan who is fairly agricultural to watch but defended with aplomb - breaking down numerous Brentford attacks and getting his head to an O'Connor shot that looked to be heading straight in.

One slight area for concern from a Bees perspective is that Oldham created two or three of their breaks from very simple football and an easy pass that seperated our defence. Against a more clinical team we could have been punished more heavily.

I would also say that Steve Kabba now deserves a starting chance after another decent cameo performance as substitute.

Bees - Price, Foster, Wood, Phillips, Wilson, Taylor, Hunt, O'Connor, Saunders, Weston (Kabba), Cort  

Thanks to 'condorman' and beesotted for the match report