Brentford vs Derby County. Sky Bet Championship.
Gtech Community StadiumAttendance2,000.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Brentford and Derby County at the Brentford Community Stadium as they play out a drab goalless draw with no shots on target on Wednesday night.
Wednesday 9 December 2020 23:13, UK
Derby moved to within a point of safety in the Championship after holding play-off chasing Brentford to a goalless draw.
Bryan Mbeumo and Josh Dasilva both hit the woodwork for the hosts, now unbeaten in 10 league matches, while Kamil Jozwiak's effort suffered the same fate as the game opened up after the break.
But this was a contest low on quality in both final thirds as Brentford failed to regain their place in the top six against a well-drilled Derby side under the guidance of interim boss Wayne Rooney.
Vitaly Janelt was the first to get a sight of goal with just two minutes gone when the ball dropped kindly for him 12 yards out, but he fired just over.
There was little more goalmouth action until midway through the half when Janelt seized on a loose Derby clearance to send a 30-yard drive that just failed to dip beneath the bar in time.
In a first half riddled with errors with both sides looking leggy, there was little to choose between Rooney's strugglers and the Bees.
The biggest cheer in a subdued first half came when Derby midfielder Graeme Shinnie was shown a yellow card for a blatant foul on winger Mbeumo.
But the first half was lacking in quality with Brentford struggling to find any kind of rhythm against a resilient and well organised Rams defence.
Brentford came closest to breaking the deadlock when Sergi Canos found the byline just before the break and slipped in a low cross that Emiliano Marcondes turned goalwards only for Matt Clarke to deflect wide.
And Brentford's persistence almost paid off again on the stroke of half-time when a Mads Bech Sorensen long throw dropped for Mbeumo, who volleyed just past the upright.
Brentford started the second half with intent and Marcondes forced David Marshall into a safety-first punch clear from a whipped free-kick within seconds of the restart.
Canos saw a speculative effort blocked for a corner as the Londoners turned the screw, before failing to get a decisive touch on a bobbling ball in the box seconds later.
Brentford's best chance to end the stalemate came on the hour when Ivan Toney headed Henrik Dalsgaard's cross into the path of Mbeumo who fired his volley against the angle with the goal gaping.
Derby almost made them pay seconds later when Jozwiak burst clear down the right and squared for half-time substitute Tom Lawrence to bundle the ball wide from close range.
County suffered a setback in the 64th minute when centre-back Curtis Davies was stretchered off after a clash with Brentford skipper Pontus Jansson, to be replaced by Kornell McDonald.
But that only inspired the Rams and Jozwiak slammed a 70th-minute snapshot against the post, the ball rebounding for Lawrence whose deflected effort flew wide.
Dasilva could have made them rue the miss seconds later at the other end, but his first-time effort from a Canos cross flew to safety off the top of the bar.
Brentford's Thomas Frank: "I am a glass half full man so 10 games unbeaten at this level is a great validation, but of course we want to turn the draws into wins. In several of those draws we have been the better team and they could easily have been wins, but once again it is down to those fine margins.
"Derby have some good players and they came here wanting to get one point and I understand and respect that they want to run and defend, but when you create five good chances to their one, you have to take them. We have a higher level to go to offensively and we have not hit that enough this season, but we have a solid foundation. I want us to find that spark in the final third, but tonight there were too many times where we didn't keep the ball well enough."
Derby's interim manager Wayne Rooney: "I don't think it looks good that I've come out of the team and we're unbeaten in four games! I've heard nothing about my position but it's for other people to say whether I'm staking a claim.
"All I know is there's been a massive improvement, there's confidence and belief running through the team and we can get better, so over the last four games I'm happy and excited for the games to come. I'm confident in myself that I can do this job, but I don't want to take any credit for what the players are doing because they are putting a lot of work in to get the points."
