Drawing the sting

Andy Munro watches Blues draw with Brentford.

This was never going to be easy, and Blues’ general first half dominance was nullified by a strong second half by the Bees.

Yet, Blues could have been out of sight in the first quarter, hitting the inside of the post and fashioning other chances before man of the match Gary Gardner surged forward to play the ball in and a clever dummy by Scott Hogan opened things up for the Juke to slide home.

In fairness, Brentford got back on terms from a corner headed home – always a likely scenario when you have two 6’4″ defenders coming up for the set piece. However, Blues still looked dangerous with some superb movement from Hogan, Bella and Jude bellingham but it was all square at the interval.

After the restart, the Blues back four held firm despite increasing pressure, Lee Camp contributing with a couple of outstanding saves. Blues had a very decent shout for a penalty turned down, although Scott Hogan limping off with an ankle injury is a cause for concern.

It’s now seven points out of nine against three serious play-off contenders and, let’s face it, the three points against Barnsley are also looking good after their subsequent three-nil away win. Finally, it’s worth musing on the fact that Brentford bought Maupay for £1.5 million and sold him to Brighton for £20 million.

All that money has been re-invested in about half a dozen players each costing around the £3 million mark while can only dream of such expenditure given the profligacy of the likes of Gianfranco Zola and the King of the Jungle himself. No wonder Brentford look in such good playing health.