Much has been made of Brentford’s bid to earn European football at the end of the season, the Bees comfortably sitting seventh in the table under the watchful eye of rookie manager Keith Andrews – their current standing a surprise as many tipped them for relegation at the start of the campaign.
Relegation now nowhere near a concern for Brentford; their concern is getting over the European qualification line and with everyone from fourth through to sixth all dropping points over the weekend, suddenly the West London outfit were gearing up for a different race before Monday’s visit of Wolves.
Get the better of the division’s basement outfit and the Conference League probability would then become a Europa League possibility. It looked more than possible by the time Brentford raced into a 2-0 lead at the expense of the Molineux men.
The GTech Community Stadium is never an easy place to go, especially when it is rocking under the lights. Wolves’ task made far more difficult halfway through the first half as the hosts drew first blood in the bid for maximum points.
Michael Kayode, perhaps better known for his long throws found himself on the scoresheet for the first time in his Brentford career. A delivery from teammate Keane Lewis-Potter was expertly met by the defender, the kind of finish you would expect from colleague Igor Thiago
That very player would double Brentford’s advantage with eight minutes left before the interval. The Brazilian forward is arguably the biggest reason the club are even dreaming of European football; his easy finish capped off difficult work from Dango Ouattara in the build-up.
Dreaming about Europe but perhaps caught napping as a result, Wolves with nothing to lose in this or any other game they will play until the end of the season, only winning each of their remaining eight would complete the greatest of escapes.
However, they did manage to start their comeback in West London before the break. January signing Adam Armstrong halved Wolves’ deficit in the final minute of the first half, and manager Rob Edwards’ subsequent talk in the dressing room now took a slightly different tone.
In recent weeks, Wolves have certainly played with more freedom. Whether that is because they have simply accepted their fate or they have found a degree of confidence can be argued, but there can be no argument that their equaliser against Brentford was well deserved.
Having already hit the woodwork through scorer Armstrong, Wolves were not to be denied again. This time, with 13 minutes left on the clock, Tolu Arokodare restored parity on the evening. Two minutes later, he almost bagged his second.
His header hitting the frame of the goal, anguish not to snatch all three points from such a previously perilous position. Points shared at the final whistle, hard to gauge which of the two managers would be most disappointed with the outcome.
For Keith Andrews, the chance to close the top six was spurned, but that point still keeps their European flame alive. For counterpart Rob Edwards, a spirited point within the context of the night, only delaying the inevitability of relegation a little longer.
