September 18, (THEWILL) – English Premier League newbies, Brentford, enjoyed another good weekend on Saturday in the matchday five fixture and, even though Shandon Baptiste’s red card made life hard for visitors, they still had enough reserves to secure a 2-0 win over a sloppy Wolves side.
In a first half where Brentford’s Ivan Toney made a performative argument for man of the match, everything positive that the visitors threw at Wolverhampton Wanderers came directly or indirectly from Toney.
It was only a matter of time therefore before the 25-year-old registered his name on the scoresheet. The Brentford hitman opened the scoring from the penalty spot after being hauled down. His industry saw him also finish with the ball in the back of the net two other times more, only to see those efforts correctly ruled out for handball and offside.
As if to underline his claim for man of the match, Toney was responsible for the assist for Brentford’s second after 35 minutes. He burst down the wing on a trot before slotting the ball across goal for attacking partner Bryan Mbeumo to tap into an empty net and give Brentford an imposing lead at the end of a first half.
Although the hosts saw plenty of possession, Bruno Lage’s charges were incredibly sloppy in the final third. It is a result that makes Lage’s role all the much tougher since taking over from the job vacated by Nuno Espirito Santo during the summer.
Wolves were obviously fired up in the second half which got off to a frantic start. Yet, it was Brentford again with the opening chances. Mbeumo skied an effort after pouncing on a Ruben Neves mistake. Then, Adama Traore came close for Wolves but his attempt failed to find the net.
Shortly after the hour mark, there was the chance for Wolves to stage a comeback on their own grounds with the red card to Baptiste for his second bookable offence. Wolves sought to take immediate advantage of their extra man and only a stunning block from Kristoffer Ajer prevented Hwang Hee-chan from scoring.
Wolves kept up the pressure to find a way through and get their fight back on course. Brentford simply refused to budge and Wolves could not find a way through. In truth, the hosts lacked quality in the final third all game long. The evidence showed in the statistics as Wolves failed to make a single shot on target.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
