September going steady
Brentford 0 Brighton 1 – Saturday 11 September 2021
Welcome back to Brentford Neal Maupay, albeit at a different ground to the one he left in 2019. He and his Brighton team-mates came out onto the pitch in an all-light blue/pale turquoise away kit. Nice.
Brighton’s manager these days is the respected Graham Potter. Notable members of his team include Welbeck, Dunks, Trossard and Cucurella, their new No.3 with the big hair who’s a good player but tricksy. The first half was scrappy, like a Championship game. Our fans were subdued. Theirs less so, much noisier than Arsenal’s.
In the second half Brighton fell over often and the referee fell for it often. Most frustrating. Not like Brighton of old who used to play good football. Is this what it takes to stay up? For a long time Maupay was the exception, seeming to have cleaned up his act, at least for this game. He’s certainly a better player these days.
In the 90th minute, the Seagulls swooped to conquer and Trossard scored. They grabbed the points like robbing chips from a child on a seaside promenade. Maupay couldn’t resist a little centre spot time wasting malarkey to prevent Brentford restarting briskly in the hope of a last gasp equaliser. Our first defeat in 16 Championship and Premier League matches.
Wolves 0 Brentford 2 – Saturday 18 September 2021
Played a shambles of a gig at the Poly here in 1979. Next visit was 35 years later to watch the Bees in the Championship in 2014. I remember the ground was lovely but the scoreline that day wasn’t – Wolves won despite going down to 10 men. No sign of ex-Bee George Saville. After the game the small city centre was deserted in that dead zone between Christmas and New Year.
This time it’s different. Both clubs are in the Premier League. Seems everyone in the throwback shopping centre is wearing Wulfrunian gold with black trim. We spotted Mark Frost, who played villain Ray Crosby in Coronation Street until February this year, sitting outside a café in the main square.
Molineux is a short walk from the city centre. On the way we trudged up Wulfruna Street, past St Peter’s Collegiate Church, a large 15th century church built of red sandstone in the Perpendicular style. Then down the other side to the stadium which was as lovely as we remembered. Good ambience, the many food stalls outside gave it a festival/market feel. Fans cool and friendly. Saw Corrie Crosby again.
Got to our seats just three rows back from pitch side when two guys who used to sit next to us at Griffin Park suddenly appeared in the seats bang in front of us. ‘We’re not stalking you!’ said one, and we had a nice old natter. The flame thrower display was impressive but being so near, the heat from the blasts was a bit much. The home fans joining in for ‘Heigh-ho WOLVERHAMPTON!’ was deafening.
The first half was exciting. We scored four times, two of them rejected by VAR. Elation that we were 2–0 up at half time. The programme tells us Robert Plant is one of the club’s Vice Presidents. So, can I resist the temptation to say that Wolves’ players had suffered a Communication Breakdown? No, I can’t. By the way, Wolves’ matchday programme is one of the best I’ve seen. 100 pages of quality info and photos. And a fun two-page scratchcard quiz.
In the second half, Baptiste got a silly second yellow. We felt for him. Down to 10 men, we were determined to hold on to our lead. Timewasting isn’t nice, but needs must. By the way, Mr Wolves Manager, Raya didn’t change his goalkeeping gloves to waste time – one of them got ripped after getting stuck on the crossbar.
A flipped repeat of December 2014. But what a game. And what a result! We floated on cloud nine back to the main square for a sarnie at Alice’s Tea Rooms – a decent café run by a friendly Louis Theroux look-a-like.
The Bluebrick is a lovely pub near Wolverhampton railway station that itself was the main station until 1967. We had a pint there, strolled round to the new station then got the train home.
Brentford 7 Oldham 0 – Tuesday 21 September 2021 [EFL Cup aka Carabao Cup]
A midnight slip road in Oldham, 1978. Shivering in the rain trying to hitch a lift back to Leeds after Bowie at Bingley Hall and missing the Manchester train connection. I also recall that Oldham’s ground is nicknamed Ice Station Zebra and reputed to be the coldest in England. Combined recollections = bleak.
Before the game there was a minute’s applause for Jimmy Greaves, during which his face graced the big screen.
Oldham Athletic are fairly athletic, tidy and did try to play football. But they were no match for Brentford and sitting at the bottom of the fourth tier, their priorities probably lie elsewhere. Sad to think they were in the top division less than 30 years ago. Their fans were great though, at times louder than us. And their ‘Can we play you every week?’ chant at 2-0 down brought a smile to everyone’s face.
Being 5–0 up at half time often signifies there’ll be no goals in the second half but there were two, both top notch, the last a thrilling bicycle kick from Wissa. 7–0 in a game where Forss forced in four. A bleak result for Oldham.
Brentford 3 Liverpool 3 – Saturday 25 September 2021
There is nothing to fear but fear itself. And Salah and Mané, Robertson and van Dijk. All of them in fact.
We’d been looking forward to this from the start, though as the week wore on it started to dawn on us – this is the Premier League proper, against one of the big four. A reality hit. But Brentford showed no fear. Liverpool’s defending seemed surprisingly unsteady, and Mo Salah strangely unlucky in front of goal. On the other hand, we played out of our skin, always in the game, in one of our best performances ever.
In the first half, we scored first, then they equalised. In the second half, they went ahead. Uh oh. But then we equalised. They went ahead again. We equalised again. The game flashed by, spellbinding and exhilarating. We’re still buzzing six days later.
Jurgen Klopp was a little stingy in his praise of Brentford’s achievement: ‘They’ll get a few more points, for sure, particularly here.’ For sure, he must’ve been disappointed not to win, and he may even be right. But that statement may well now adorn the noticeboard at Jersey Road.
Not many sides get to put three past Liverpool. And it leaves Brentford ninth in the table, with nine points from six Prem games played. That’s going steady alright.
Thick and fast next month: Brentford take on West Ham, Chelsea, Leicester, Stoke and Burnley
Around Hanwell and up the allotment 
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