Brentford 0-0 Fulham
by Layth Yousif
at the Brentford Community Stadium

BERND LENO’S 90th-minute save from Dango Ouattara helped Fulham earn a point after a goalless draw in an otherwise instantly forgettable west London derby at Brentford.

In the April sunshine, the Cottagers’ experienced keeper showed excellent anticipation and awareness to deny the Bees attacker at the end of regulation time, as both sides fought out a disappointing stalemate.

In front of the man who signed him, Thomas Frank, back at the club where he made his name watching this game alongside Brentford owner Matthew Benham and sporting director Phil Giles — Ouattara held his head in his hands after Leno’s reaction save that denied the home side victory in front of 17,171 fans.

Keith Andrews’s side started Saturday’s early kick-off in a hugely creditable seventh spot, a mere point off Chelsea, their storied near neighbours, a distance of four miles and a galaxy in terms of budgets.

Incredibly, given so many tipped the Bees for relegation after losing their boss Frank to his ill-fated spell at Spurs, skipper Christian Norgaard to Arsenal, as well as striker Yoane Wissa to Newcastle, before the clash against Fulham, Andrews had steered his hard-working Brentford side to within five points of the Champions League places.

With eyes on a first-ever European qualification campaign in the club’s 137-year history, Andrews named an unchanged starting line-up from the 2-2 draw against Everton last weekend. Igor Thiago, a single goal behind Erling Haaland in the race for the Golden Boot, started up front, while full-back Aaron Hickey returned to the matchday squad for the first time since February, having recovered from a hamstring injury.

Despite sitting five places below the Bees, Fulham started the weekend only three points behind Brentford, with the 2010 Europa League runners-up’s hopes of taking part in their first European campaign since 2011-12 still very much alive.

Cottagers boss Marco Silva made four changes to his side that suffered a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool last time out. Ryan Sessegnon, Emile Smith Rowe, Sasa Lukic and Tom Cairney were all drafted in, as Antonee Robinson, Josh King, Oscar Bobb and Sander Berge dropped out.

The travelling Fulham fans were quick to ask whether their hosts had played on the continent before — or words to that effect — before singing their ditty about Brentford merely being a “bus stop in Hounslow.”

In an underwhelming first half, punctuated by the malaise of misplaced passes, sloppy play and disjointed attacking — surprising given the previous enterprise of both sides — Brentford’s best chance came after 10 minutes when Thiago’s header from Matthias Jensen’s cross flew narrowly past Bernd Leno’s post.

It was a surprise that the normally clinical Thiago fluffed his lines. The former Brazilian bricklayer is a popular presence at the club, after building his career via spells in Bulgaria and Belgium, prior to joining Brentford, and is now a Selecao striker, with Carlo Ancelotti calling up the 24-year-old who made his debut against France on March 26, prior to scoring against Croatia in a 3-1 win five days later.

Thiago was 13-years-old when he lost his father, and supported his street-cleaner mother Maria Diva by working a series of construction jobs as a young teenager, including turning his hand to bricklaying, while also odd-jobbing at fairs, and even handing out flyers, anything to help his family financially.

Eight minutes later Ouattara tested Leno with a low effort that the Fulham keeper gathered. Keane Lewis-Potter fired over moments before the interval.

Sandwiched in between, just after the “hour mark Sessegnon fired high over Caoimhin Kelleher’s bar, with Fulham’s gaudy luminous green kit shining far more than any player in the lunchtime sun between the River Thames at Kew, and the A4 flyover.

Twelve minutes after the break Leno saved from Ouattara. Eight minutes later Jensen lifted his effort just over the bar as the home side increased their intensity, albeit to no discernible outcome. With 13 minutes remaining of this relentlessly mediocre match Fulham’s normally effective Harry Wilson steered his effort wide of Kelleher’s far post when well-placed.

As the clock ticked down in this clash desperately low on quality, all that was left was for Leno to deny Ouattara, as Brentford made it five straight league draws for the first time since 1957.

“I’m disappointed,” reflected Bees boss Andrews after the match, adding: “I feel like if any team was going to win the game, it was going to be us.”