IVAN THE TERROR!
He scores one, creates another, and has two more ruled out, it’s...
TO think Ivan Toney once failed a medical which blew up a £500,000 move to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2014. How they could have done with such a gifted goalscorer here.
Thankfully for Brentford, they do have him. Toney won a penalty, scored it, assisted his strike partner Bryan Mbeumo for their second and held the ball up brilliantly.
The 25-year-old, who is eligible for Jamaica but wants to represent England, even had two other strikes disallowed by VAR.
Wolves, meanwhile, failed to secure a single shot on target at Molineux. Boos rang out at half time, and then again at full time. The faithful are losing faith.
Even when Brentford were down to 10 men from the 64th minute onward, Wolves had Raul Jimenez, Hwang Hee-chan. Fabio Silva. Daniel Podence. Adama Traore. Francisco Trincao on the field. Plenty of potential scorers, but no one who dared to do the deed.
So it’s another win for Brentford. This makes it eight points from their first five fixtures back in the big time. They look like they belong here, largely thanks to Toney.
‘He was superb,’ said his manager Thomas Frank. ‘What a player, what a mentality, what a presence. What an assist, by the way! He was everpresent. That was a 10 out of 10 performance.’
Wolves boss Bruno Lage wasn’t happy with the refereeing and then went on to accuse Brentford of time-wasting, saying: ‘I see too many players on the floor for the opponents. Even the goalkeeper changed his gloves.’
Responding to that, Frank said: ‘Did we deserve to win?’ Yes, Brentford did, he was told. ‘Don’t use excuses. Don’t spin it.’
Brentford were looking the likelier to score in the early stages, with a Toney effort in the eighth minute ruled out for offside in the build-up. In the 26th minute a corner led to wrestling and amid it all, Toney tumbled over and the referee Darren England pointed to the penalty spot. VAR Stuart Attwell double checked the foul, with Fernando Marcal clearly dragging the striker down.
Brentford thought they’d made it 2-0 as the half-hour mark approached when Toney finished with a backheel. Attwell decided Toney was onside, but that he’d handled the ball in controlling it so it wouldn’t count.
This was a wake-up call for Wolves.
In the 32nd minute, Traore had space to shoot and boy did he. It was a vicious attempt but, with a deflection off Brentford defender Pontus Jansson, it bounced back off the woodwork. How close it came to being 1-1, and then suddenly it was 2-0, with the crossbar still shaking from Traore’s explosive effort.
Brentford stormed down the other end, with Toney bursting by Max Kilman. He squared to Mbeumo, who scored into the empty net.
In the 59th minute, Brentford’s Shandon Baptiste was cautioned for a careless challenge on Marcal. In the 64th, he did something very silly. Baptiste took hold of Trincao by the hips and dragged him down in a tackle worthy of rugby. With that, Brentford were down to 10 men.
With 10 minutes remaining, Wolves had not managed a shot on target. With five remaining, still no shot. Supporters started to stream out of Molineux. They’d seen enough.
Those who stayed did get to see the woodwork rattled — by Brentford. The visitors crashed a shot against the post from a counter-attack, with Mbeumo inches from making it 3-0.
Not to worry, because 2-0 would do just nicely.
WOLVES (3-4-3): Sa 5.5; Kilman 5, Coady 5.5, Saiss 5 (Hwang 46min, 6); Semedo 5.5 (Silva 82), Neves 5.5, Moutinho 5, Marcal 5 (Podence 72, 6); Trincao 5, Jimenez 5, Adama 6. Booked: Sa, Saiss, Neves, Coady. Subs (not used): Ruddy, Hoever, Ait-Nouri, Mosquera, Boly, Dendoncker. BRENTFORD (3-5-2): Raya 7; Ajer 7.5, Jansson 7.5 (Jorgensen 82), Pinnock 7; Canos 7 (Onyeka 68, 6), Baptiste 5.5, Norgaard 6.5, Janelt 6.5, Henry 6.5 (Roerslev 75, 6); Mbeumo 8, Toney 8.5. Booked: Henry, Baptiste, Jansson. Sent off: Baptiste (64min). Subs (not used): Fernandez, Thompson, Ghoddos, Jensen, Forss, Wissa. Referee: D England (Merseyside) 6.