Toney in top spot for Frank

TWO steps back, one to the left, a deep breath. A stride forward, a firm pass into the bottom corner. Rinse and repeat. Is there a better penalty taker in the country than Ivan Toney?

No, according to the stats and his manager. Since his Brentford debut at the start of last season, no player in England’s top four divisions has converted more than Toney in league competition.

Two here to complete a hat-trick made it sixteen in sixteen since he joined Brentford from Peterborough in summer 2020.

So the question was put to Brentford boss Thomas Frank — is Toney the best in the country? ‘No,’ he said. ‘He’s the best in the world.’

Toney had not scored, or even started a game, since he was filmed, admittedly with little context, saying ‘f*** Brentford’ at the end of January. But after his three goals earned Brentford a first win after nine matches without one and took them six points clear of the relegation zone, all was forgiven.

Aside from the nine winless games, the Bees had conceded 15 goals in their previous five away trips. But that too was forgotten when Toney popped up unmarked at the back post to open the scoring in the first-half and performed a phenomenal knee-slide for the delirious away fans.

‘We are staying up,’ they sang, followed by, ‘You’re going down!’ That chant was always going to be sung in this match but the team singing it was unclear. The phrase ‘six-pointer’ had seldom been more relevant.

So it was the Brentford travelling fans in full voice. Staying up? Work to be done, sure, but this was a momentous day for Frank’s side.

With the relegation dog-fight as the overarching theme to the day, this match was pockmarked with plenty more fascinating sub-plots. Christian Eriksen made his first start since his cardiac arrest in June. The referee in Copenhagen that day was the same as at Carrow Road here, Anthony Taylor.

Two penalties settled this game which, at 1-0, was very tight. At the other end, no penalty was awarded when Brandon Williams was bundled over by Bryan Mbeumo.

Teemu Pukki aside, would you ever gamble on any Norwich player scoring a goal? Brentford, on the other hand, were prolific. Eriksen was operating slightly deeper like an NFL quarterback and at one point he tangled with Norwich full-back Williams, whose instinctive reaction was to confront Eriksen. Williams grabbed the Dane and looked furious but then realised who it was and it was smiles all round.

No smiles when Eriksen helped create the first goal, though. More fury at Norwich’s defending as Kristoffer Ajer flicked on a corner and Toney was free at the back post to fire home.

It all fell apart from there for Dean Smith’s men and Ben Gibson gave away two penalties. First, the defender raised his boot and connected with the head of Pontus Jansson. After a VAR check, Taylor pointed to the spot.

Tim Krul had written in the Daily Mail this week about how penalty-takers are getting better. None more so than Toney, who smashed it to Krul’s right. Five minutes later, he did so again!

Both teams had a goal ruled out for offside before Pukki pulled one back for Norwich in injury time. Carrow Road was half-empty and empty seats were all over, bar the away end, where the travelling fans toasted a seasondefining three points.