BUSY BEE IVAN SETS THE TONE
Brentford up to second as striker bags goal No.26
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IVAN TONEY fired Brentford into second place at Ewood Park.
It took the Championship’s leading scorer just 10 minutes to take his tally to 26th league goal in a season when Brentford are once again knocking on the Premier League door.
The on-fire striker with the assassin’s touch confidently stroked home from the spot after Tarique Fosu was sent tumbling in the box by Rovers skipper Darragh Lenihan.
It meant that he overtook the 25 goals Ollie Watkins plundered last season. And at an initial fee of £5million, the 24-year-old has proved a bargain replacement for Watkins who left for Aston Villa.
Then former Newcastle forward almost added an audacious 40-yard chip to his burgeoning collection. After spotting keeper Thomas Kaminski off his line his effort landed on top of the net.
He also set up Vitaly
Janelt who fired just wide while Christian Norgaard also went close as Brentford put a run of four defeats in six games behind them.
Blackburn, who had put a spoke in Swansea’s promotion bandwagon with a 1-1 midweek draw, couldn’t repeat the trick placing more pressure on manager Tony Mowbray.
Mowbray tried to shake things up for the second half with two substitutions which raised Rovers’ tempo.
Bradley Dack was denied by the fingertips of David Raya who also smothered a decent effort from one of the substitutes, Joe Rothwell.
And Dack had to be stretchered off (above) in added time after attempting to catch Raya out as the keeper lingered on the ball as he prepared to clear, the forward jarring his knee.
At the other end Marcus Forss was denied by an outstanding save from Kaminski while Rovers had a fair shout for a spot-kick when Mads Bech Sorensen tangled with Ryan Nyambe. BLACKBURN: Kaminski 7, Nyambe 6, Lenihan 6, Harwood-Bellis 6, Douglas 6, Buckley 7 (Bennett 76, 6), Trybull 6 (Travis 53, 5, Johnson 60, 6), Dack 6, Brereton 6 (Elliott 46, 7) Dolan, Gallagher 6 (Rothwell 46, 6).
BRENTFORD: Raya 7, Dalsgaard 6, Reid 6, Pinnock 7, Sorensen 6, Jensen 7 (Marcondes 71, 6), Norgaard 7 (Ghoddos 75, 6), Janelt 7, Mbeumo 7 (Forss 85), Fosu 7(Canos 71, 6), Toney 8.
MOTM IVAN TONEY (BRENTFORD)
WHATEVER happened to those golden days of Premier League matches finishing 7-2 and 6-1?
Remember when the season started with a bang and goals were flying in from everywhere?
Various theories were put forward then...no crowds, tired players, VAR.
But come to the business end of the season and the same old stats are appearing.
For those thinking that football was heading for a revolution, we’re sorry to disappoint you but Prem games generally follow a pattern.
What is the most frequent score in the Premier League currently this season? It’s the humble 1-1 draw.
Last season? Yep, 1-1. Indeed that scoreline has cropped up most in four of the last five seasons.
The moral of the story? Learn to love the draw. It’s no admission of failure to admit that you don’t fancy a winner. If teams like Man United have loads of draws then it’s no surprise lesser teams end up tied.
Certain games stand out this weekend as likely stalemates – Crystal Palace v West Brom, Saints v Brighton and that match in north London where notorious busparker Jose Mourinho will attend.