Bees Bomb at Barrow

Brentford crash out of the FA Cup at the second round stage, losing two-one to non leaguers Barrow as Ben Hamer is sent off in the first half

I am sure most people watched it on Setanta. We were poor throughout and Hamer's sending off was quite embarrassing as he struggled to keep the ball inside the area in slippy conditions and then poleaxed their striker. Although this was the major turning point in the game, it should be remembered that the young keeper has been excellent for us so far this season.

Youth team keeper Lloyd Anderson's first job was to pick the resultant penalty out of his own net as Craig Pead was sacrificed for the young stopper.

In truth Barrow had ruffled Brentford early on - but the Bees started brightly after half time and equalised through Charlie Macdonald who was Brentford's liveliest player throughout. Brentford then had their best spell of the game and looked like they might even go on to win despite Barrow's man advantage.

With twenty minutes to go, however, Barrow scored a winner after a spill from Anderson and general poor marking.

As Brentford pushed for an equaliser, with Odhiambo replacing Bennett, Barrow rattled our crossbar with a header and spurned another good chance after an Anderson save ran into the path of Jason Walker.

Overall our performance was very poor, with few Bees emerging with any credit. Yes, the conditions were bad, but we wereout-thought and out-fought for the majority of the game.

I think we also need to look at the Dean Bowditch situation - as I there was undoubtably an error in communication between Ipswich, Brentford and the FA which rendered him unable to play. I was also suprised not to see goalscoring midfielder Glenn Poole added to the fray at any point.

It was a forgettable night for Brentford and our worst result for nine years since Ron Noades sacked himself following defeat against Kingstonian.

Bees - Hamer, Osborne, Phillips, Bennett (Odhiambo 81), Dickson, Pead (Anderson 36), O'Connor, Bean, Wood, Elder, Macdonald

Unused subs - Johnson, Franks, Ochoa, Poole, Ademola

Thanks to beesotted for the match report

November 30, 2008