No festive cheer at Brentford

Brentford Away

The Blues were the first to strike in the 2nd minute when a good cross in from the right hand side by Partridge was met by Chris Holroyd on the edge of the area. He turned and fired in a shot from 10 yards which only just scraped past the right hand post.

At the other end though it was Brentford who got the early opening goal. It came from a good build up down the left hand side with the ball threaded across to Alan Connell on the right. He turned and shot from 18 yards, lobbing the ball over Danby and into the top left corner of goal.

The Bees were having most of the possession with City struggling to settle. Brentford could have extended their lead midway through the half when Gary Smith fed a short pass to Charlie Ide who got past his marker with just Danby to beat. Danby was well placed though and was able to block Ide's shot at close range.

Brentford were constantly testing the City defence which was fortunately holding stronger than at Morecambe with Vaughan playing on his natural right side with Marples moving out to left. Brentford did manage to break the defence and get the ball in the net on 35 minutes when Ide sent Alan Connell a ball to chance. Connell just mistimed his run though and the linesman flagged for offside as he shot for goal.

As the first half headed towards the break the Bees sent in wave after wave of good balls as they surged forwards with ease. Danby was called into duty on several occassions but over all the defence were having a decent game and kept the scoreline respectable.

The second half started quietly, however The Blues were seeing more of the ball and starting to get forwards more though without really threatening much. It was Brentford however just after the hour mark who tried to build on their lead with Connell's shot following a free kick being blocked by Danby. The The Blues keeper was the hero again moments later when Connell thundered in a powerful 12 yard shot which Danby again saved well.

It was midway through the half before the tempo of the game lifted and agaiin it was the home side pushing forwards. They struck twice in two minutes to deliver the killer blows.

First up, Craig Pead, put in a cross to the back post which Ross Montague headed into the bottom corner decisively. Then just two minutes later Glenn Poole received a short pass back to him leaving him a simple shot to fire the ball home and give the Bees a three goal lead.

The Blues had no answer with no real opportunities on goal, ending the year on a bit of a low with two away defeats, eight goals conceded.

Brentford: Simon Brown, O'Connor, Heywood, Osborne, Dickson, Ide (Shakes 46), Smith, Pead, Poole (Moore 84), Montague, Connell.

Unused substitutes: Masters, Charles, Sinclair.

Chester City: Danby, Marples, Butler, Linwood, Vaughan, Partridge, Hughes, Roberts, Ellison, Yeo (Rutherford 56), Holroyd.

Unused substitutes: Ward, Newton, McManus, Rule.