EFL Cup Round 4: Brentford vs. Grimsby Town - Ruthless & Clinical
The Bees secured their place in the EFL Cup Quarter-Finals with a dominant 5-0 victory over Grimsby Town, demonstrating a ruthless, clinical edge that proved the difference despite a surprisingly shaky start to the match.
The opening twenty minutes belonged firmly to the home team. The Bees looked vulnerable at the back, struggling to find their rhythm as Grimsby pressed aggressively. However, the quality gap between the Premier League side and their League Two opponents became brutally clear in a decisive four-minute spell.
Mathias Jensen and Frank Onyeka held down the midfield battle in their bout with Grimsby Town.
Against the run of play in the 22’, the deadlock was broken. Mathias Jensen received the ball from Keane Lewis-Potter and produced a nice, crisp shot from outside the box, across the goal, and into the left-hand side of the net for 1-0. Before Grimsby could recover, a beautiful counterattack four minutes later saw the lead double. After a move up the pitch, Reiss Nelson made a lovely move past a couple of Grimsby defenders and stood up a ball to the back post, where Keane Lewis-Potter comfortably headed home in the 26’ for 2-0.
With two goals under their belt, Brentford began to focus on possession, taking the sting out of the game in the latter stages of the first half. Just before the break, Reiss Nelson capped off a lovely attacking move in the 43’, slotting home an exquisite finish from the top of the box into the bottom right-hand corner for a 3-0 halftime cushion.
The Bees were in cruise control after the restart. In the 54’, Lewis-Potter’s perfect dummy led to Fabio Carvalho getting taken down in the box. The Bees were awarded a penalty, which was put away by Fabio Carvalho for 4-0.
Head Coach Keith Andrews took the opportunity to integrate fresh legs, with Sepp van den Berg and Dango Ouattara making way for Nathan Collins and Kevin Schade on the hour mark. Frank Onyeka and Reiss Nelson were later replaced by Vitaly Janelt and Romelle Donovan in the 67’, who immediately looked to make an impact. It was great to see Romelle getting some much-deserved cup minutes. This was preceded by a substitution in the 70’ as Michael Kayode replaced Benjamin Arthur, who had put in a superb performance filling in at right-back.
Donovan nearly created the fifth in the 74’ with a scintillating run down the right wing and a lovely low-driven pass into the box, but Schade’s shot was blocked for a corner. The resulting corner, delivered by Mathias Jensen, found the head of captain Nathan Collins, who scored the final goal of the night in the 75’, sealing the 5-0 victory.
Brentford’s Premier League quality shone through, allowing them to overcome their early struggles by being clinical when it mattered, comfortably progressing to the Quarter-Finals.
Come On You Bees!
