Brentford 3-2 Nottingham Forrest
by Layth Yousif
at Brentford Community Stadium
AFTER 260 days out, Brentford striker and talisman Ivan Toney returned to Premier League action with a superb goal to steer his side to an important victory, while further showcasing his abilities to possible suitors.
In front of a sell-out crowd of 17,077, the talented 27-year-old looked incredibly sharp and alert throughout this enthralling match that lasted, with adds-ons, more than 100 minutes of intense football in total.
It was credit to Toney’s determined commitment to conditioning during what could have been a debilitating ban, physically and emotionally, that he played such a vital part in the Bees’ stirring triumph.
Toney simply burst with untrammelled energy, boosted through outstanding fitness and stamina, as he played an influential role in his side’s much-needed victory, capping a fairytale return after an eight-month suspension.
The irony may have been lost at the money-grabbing powers-that-be in the corridors of power, but the Bees star striker who made errors of judgement rather than anything more sinister in breaching betting regulations, once again appeared for his side (sponsored by a betting company) against Nottingham Forest (also sponsored by a betting company).
Missing six players away at the Africa Cup of Nations Forest started brightly.
Brazil striker Danilo who pounced first, showing excellent technique and vision to fire past Bees’ flummoxed keeper Mark Flekken inside 180 seconds, to put Nuno Espirito Santo’s side 1-0 ahead, after the Bees failed to clear their lines.
In his joy, the 24-year-old Sao Paolo-born attacker ran the entire length of the pitch to celebrate with his side’s vociferous travelling Forest fans at the other end.
“Ivan Toney: You should have cashed out” sung Forest fans to Brentford’s captain in predictable terrace humour.
However, in a start that would surely have been dismissed as too trite had it been fiction, Toney fired home an exquisite free-kick on 19 minutes, that beat the wall’s underwhelming attentions, Forest’s keeper Matt Turner, and VAR, to level at 1-1.
Cue an eruption of joy from the crowd — including a watching Stormzy — and the team, as Toney, redemption personified, raced to his boss Thomas Frank only to be engulfed by the Bees delighted bench.
The normally stentorian Frank, who had always given his staunch support to Toney throughout his suspension, even cracked a smile as Toney raised a Brentford shirt that was dedicated to his uncle Brian. A wonderful moment.
Speaking after the match, Frank said: “Ivan is a big player and a big part of it, and of course we missed him.
“It was good to have him back, and I told him that. It was good to see him enjoying playing football.”
Toney, who has scored against Forest in every game he has played against the City Ground outfit throughout his career, made sure he continued his proud record.
On closer inspection moments before the goal, it appeared Toney twice picked up the ball and moved it wider to make the angle more favourable. Yes, VAR should perhaps have intervened, and so too should the dozing Forest wall have noticed — but the game itself, surely, should allow space for such an outrageously impish moment of inspiration.
Equally, boss Nuno should have been apoplectic over his side’s desperately unconvincing wall, including Callum Hudson-Odoi’s lacklustre attempt to block the ball on its way into the net.
“The feeling, the big moment, I always knew I was going to hit the target and I did that,” said Toney after the match, adding: “If I did that, I was going to have a chance to score.
“In the end, I gave the keeper no chance, so it was good.”
As temperatures dropped on another bitterly cold evening on this corner of the Premier League situated near the A4 flyover and the Thames at Kew Bridge, the tempo rose further.
The lively Toney played a part in Lewis Potter smashing the ball against Turner’s bar before the interval, while a sweeping Forest move was stopped by Flekken.
There was more drama to come in the second half when Ben Mee emphatically met Mathias Jensen’s corner at the near post to put Brentford 2-1 ahead on 58 minutes. It was a fitting note on the redoubtable Mee’s 50th appearance — even if Forest levelled shortly afterwards.
Sterling yeoman Chris Wood met Callum Hudson-Odio’s cross on 65 minutes to make it 2-2. Frank would have been disappointed with the way Danilo robbed a weak Mikkel Damsgaard in midfield, prior to feeding Forest's former Chelsea academy star for the cross into Forest's Kiwi striker.
Yet, Brentford, buoyed by Toney — who also managed to get his name in the book after catching Orel Mangala, leaving referee Darren England no choice but to issue a yellow card — went ahead once again through a splendid strike from Neal Maupay.
Happy to be back in his old west London stamping ground, Maupay, the former Brighton and Everton attacker showed his quality — not to mention excellent technique in controlling Mads Roerslev’s ball into the box, prior to turning to fire past Turner. VAR rightly allowed the goal to stand after a quick check for handball.
The emotion was too much for Forest’s boss Nuno to accept, and was awarded a yellow card by England for dissent.
Mangala came close to an equaliser for Forest late on, but lashed his effort wide from Wood’s lay-off, and, after 10 minutes of added time elapsed, the hosts hung onto their lead and three important points.
Toney’s performance on his return — the player deserves credit by turning to US fitness experts to pursue extra conditioning during his break — masked the fact that this result could prove crucial come the final standings.
The result ensured Brentford won their first match in six after losing the last five, to rise to 14th spot, leapfrogging Forest in the process, who are only four points off the relegation places.
“You’re going down” sang the delighted Bees fans to their Forest counterparts at the end, before, naturally, once again turning their attention to hailing the welcome return of the charismatic Toney.
