Watkins has Bees dreaming of land of milk and honey

NO one at Brentford will be getting carried away. That is not the way here. But after batting Sheffield Wednesday aside, some of those behind the scenes may be slyly smiling at the fact they will soon have a stadium fit for the Premier League.

This was a game between the Championship’s haves and have nots. Not, it has to be clarified, in a raw financial sense.

No, those that have a plan both on and off the pitch met those that do not. The Bees continued an unbeaten start to the season after Neil Maupay’s penalty and Ollie Watkins’ strike secured a two-goal win, while Wednesday fans will be nervous about what the campaign holds.

Wednesday only had their EFL transfer embargo lifted last week, one they kept quiet after it was imposed in April. They are still waiting for a first summer arrival.

This historic club has overspent under Thai owner Dejphon Chansiri. Successive failed promotion pushes were built on a huge outlays, not any particularly clever strategy. The one-time plot for Premier League riches feels far away.

Meanwhile, Brentford can point to a strategy that has seen them make more than £50million in transfer profits over the last few seasons. They are building a new stadium that should be ready in December 2019 — although, unlike Griffin Park, it will not have a pub on all four corners. Most importantly, the team with the 21st highest budget in the Championship have an unlikely shot at earning promotion this season.

Dean Smith’s well- drilled side suffocated Wednesday throughout yesterday’s game and, had Cameron Dawson not saved shot after shot, Brentford could have posted something closer to a cricket score.

‘It certainly could have been a more emphatic scoreline than what it was,’ said Smith. ‘I thought some of our play was very good.

‘We created a number of chances and, apart from a five-minute spell just before half-time when they had a big chance, I thought we were certainly the aggressors throughout the game and thoroughly deserved the win.’

The signs were pointing to a Brentford victory early on. Winger Sergi Canos flashed a dangerous ball across the box before nearly teeing up midfielder Lewis Macleod minutes later.

Wednesday were ragged at the back, perhaps influenced by Jos Luhukay’s decision to switch to a four-man defence from the three he has preferred so far this season.

That uncertainty reared its head in Sam hutchinson’s bizarre reaction to a simple throw-in as he pulled down Macleod. Referee David Webb did not take long to point to the spot. There were no protests, just regret, before Maupay sent Dawson the wrong way to give Brentford a deserved lead.

That was the end of Wednesday’s real hopes of taking anything from this. Luhakay said: ‘They were the better team. We had a bit of luck that Brentford did not have a higher result because the chances were there.

‘Only the first 15 or 20 minutes we were in the game. Then the penalty came, and after it was 1-0 we lost the control and Brentford were stronger.

‘We have the same team, we have no new players in the team so these players are three years together and they know from each other what they can do. But today I did not see that.’

Brentford had their second soon after the break. Maupay, who has grown into a confident solo striker, looked offside as he burst on to a pass. The assistant did not flag.

he seemed to have spurned his chance when he dallied in the box. Not so — he was waiting for Watkins to join him, before playing a perfect pass into his path. Watkins, who signed from Exeter City last summer, fired home.

Smith added: ‘Ollie has now had a season in the Championship, Neal Maupay the same. We have a lot of young players in this squad, last season was their first taste of the Championship. We knew that they’d be better for it. I think they’re showing that now.’

Maupay, Canos and substitute Said Benrahma all frittered chances as the last 15 minutes did not go perfectly to plan. Well, as Wednesday will tell Brentford, not everything can.