Keith Andrews has hailed Brentford’s resilience as they dug deep to secure a 1-0 win at Aston Villa in Sunday’s Premier League clash.
The Bees’ momentum had been briefly halted by two consecutive league defeats to Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, but they bounced back with an impressive away win against the league-chasing Villa.
Kevin Schade was sent off for the visitors three minutes before halftime, but they took a surprise advantage despite being a man down.
Dango Ouattara’s initial cross was blocked, but the rebound fell to him and he fired in an unstoppable effort past Emiliano Martinez.
“We knew we’d have to defend for large parts of the game. We got the goal, which was amazing from the players, we always have that threat”, Andrews praised his side’s performance after the match.
Tammy Abraham, making his debut after his return to Aston Villa, found the back of the net four minutes into the second half, but the strike was ruled out.
Following a lengthy VAR check, the ball was deemed to have gone out of play 19 seconds before Abraham’s goal and was subsequently ruled out.
The home side continued to pile pressure on the visitors goal in search of an equalizer, but were denied by Kelleher.
The final chance of the match fell to Leon Bailey, whose loan spell at AS Roma had been cut short, but the Jamaican blazed over when he should have scored.
“We wanted to start the second half being able to attack but the boys had to dig deep. It’s a result we deserved, I felt a clean sheet was absolutely deserved for the efforts.”
The defeat was a big dent on Villa’s slim title chances as the gap between them and Arsenal in first place increased to seven points.
Meanwhile, Brentford moved back into seventh position on the standings, ending their poor run of form.
Olakitan is a young writer with a strong passion for sports, having gained experience with IndyPress and Nimelssa Press. His enthusiasm for sports inspired him to cover events both within his school and beyond. With a deep understanding of the game and a refined skillset, he brings sports coverage to a broad, global audience in a way that’s engaging and accessible.
