Bournemouth vs Brentford. Sky Bet Championship.
Vitality Stadium.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Bournemouth and Brentford at the Vitality Stadium as substitute Bryan Mbeumo struck late in the second half to secure a victory for 10-man Bees.
Saturday 24 April 2021 18:48, UK
Bryan Mbeumo ended Bournemouth's seven-match winning run as Brentford secured a Championship play-off spot with a 1-0 victory at the Vitality Stadium.
Brentford thoroughly deserved their win on the south coast despite playing the final 40 minutes with 10 men, after Pontus Jansson was sent off for two bookings, and took the lead 13 minutes from time when super-sub Mbeumo fired home the rebound from Ivan Toney's effort.
The Bees could have led long before Mbeumo's winner, but Sergi Canos was denied a first-half opener by Steve Cook's goal-line block and Toney fired straight at Asmir Begovic when played clean through.
But even with a man down, Brentford remained in the ascendency as Bournemouth's free-scoring play of recent weeks deserted them, and they are now guaranteed a second consecutive play-off campaign thanks to their victory.
With two of the Championship's highest-scoring teams facing off, history suggested the game would either be a classic or a non-event - and within the opening 15 minutes, we had our answer.
Brentford began on the front foot but were caught out several times in the opening minutes from their own high line. Junior Stanislas should have punished them on the shoulder of the last man, but, when well-placed, slipped and blasted wide.
Moments later, Mads Roerslev's cross was nodded down by Marcus Forss for Canos, whose poor connection allowed Cook to clear off his own line, before Mathias Jensen pulled a smart save out of Begovic and Toney an even better one when trying to nutmeg the goalkeeper when clean through.
An end-to-end game changed course in an instant five minutes after the break, when Jansson was shown his marching orders for bringing Arnaut Danjuma crashing to the ground from Begovic's clearance but, if anything, it added to Brentford's resolve.
While Bournemouth struggled to create, even with the addition of David Brooks, Brentford's dual strike-force continued to look dangerous, and a poor touch from Toney in the hosts' box denied him a chance of an opener after Jack Wilshere had been robbed in midfield.
With 13 minutes left he twice tried his luck again, and this time found the breakthrough. Toney picked up the rebound from his own blocked effort before trying again from a tight angle, leaving Begovic only able to palm the ball into the path of Mbeumo, who fired home from close-range.
Bournemouth huffed and puffed in the final minutes as they looked to at least keep their unbeaten run alive, but could not find a way through and were leapfrogged into third position by their visitors, who still have a game in hand.
Brentford manager Thomas Frank: "I am more than delighted. I am immensely proud of the players and I hope the fans are as well.
"In the first half we were by far the better side and in the second half, when it was 10 against 11, they created zero chances.
"We went for the win throughout the game, that says everything about the attitude and the togetherness throughout the team.
"Sometimes you take some decisions and they pay off. The easy thing with 10 men is to be very defensive but we wanted to be positive and try and win the game."
Bournemouth boss Jonathan Woodgate: "To win seven games in a row is a fantastic effort but it had to come to an end at some point.
"I can't fault the players' effort. Maybe we ran out of steam. I thought when they went down to 10 men we would win but they defended well.
"We had opportunities in the first half but the final ball and the decision-making was not good enough. I have said even when we have won games that we need to be better. We need to keep improving. We learn every game we play."
Bournemouth travel to Wycombe next Saturday; Kick-off at 3pm.
Brentford host relegation-battlers Rotherham on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports Main Event and Football from 6.30pm; kick-off at 7pm.
