Brentford vs Norwich City; Sky Bet Championship
Brentford vs Norwich City. Sky Bet Championship.
Gtech Community Stadium.
Brentford 1-1 Norwich: Kenny McLean earns late point for Canaries
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash at the Brentford Community Stadium
Tuesday 27 October 2020 22:54, UK
Kenny McLean's lucky late strike rescued a point for Norwich as they drew 1-1 at Brentford.
The Canaries were trailing to a first-half Ivan Toney goal, his eighth in six Sky Bet Championship matches.
But, for the fourth match running, Norwich struck with time running out as McLean's deflected shot salvaged a draw.
Norwich should have opened the scoring after a superb piece of trickery from Emi Buendia.
The Argentinian gave Henrik Dalsgaard the slip and put Ethan Pinnock on his backside inside the area, but saw his shot from six yards tipped over by Bees goalkeeper David Raya.
But it was Brentford who took the lead after a lightning counter-attack from their new-look strike-force.
Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma may have departed but their replacements, Toney and Saman Ghoddos, still combined with Bryan Mbeumo to devastating effect.
Ghoddos burst forward before feeding Mbeumo, who reached the byline before cutting the ball across goal for Toney to slide home.
Toney almost had a second shortly after but Tim Krul dived full length to claw away his header, with Mbeumo putting the rebound into the side-netting.
Norwich nearly grabbed a leveller before the interval with Grant Hanley heading Buendia's cross inches too high.
After the break Brentford were denied a second when Toney's header back across goal found Dalsgaard right in front of goal but the defender's finish was too close to Krul.
Before the match Daniel Farke had compared Norwich's mixed start to the campaign to a quiet night in with actress Keira Knightley.
But as they chased an equaliser, Buendia's attempt to 'bend it like Beckham' from the edge of the box resulted in a complete air-shot.
However, Norwich have developed a happy knack of scoring last-gasp goals this season - including winners in their last three matches.
And with three minutes remaining, McLean's speculative drive was going wide until it deflected off Mads Bech Sorensen, wrongfooting Raya as the ball rolled into the net.
What the managers said...
Brentford's Thomas Frank: "I think we performed well, played a very good game and I'm pleased with how we pressed Norwich in the second half. We had the chances. But it was decisive that we couldn't score the 2-0 goal. And a goal like theirs is very random. I'd rather they'd put one into the top corner.
"But the positive is it was a good performance, played with good intensity, a game of two teams who like to dominate on the ball - and I think we came out slightly on top."
Norwich's Daniel Farke: "All in all that's a good point on the road. Brentford are one of the favourites for promotion, so to be there with a late equaliser, it's always a good point. I'm still not 100 per cent happy. We could have gone for it more in the first half. Our pressing could have been more intense. We were a bit scared and showed a bit too much respect.
"But I was pleased we found a way to fight back into the game and found an equaliser. I'm pleased with our mentality and team spirit. There's no doubt it was a deserved point for us. I don't believe in coincidences. Our late goals come from good fitness, also our game, the way we exhaust our opponents. A great mentality, a winning mentality, and team spirit."
