Another late show from the Bees, as Dasilva's strike at the death buries Forest
Brentford (0) 2 Toney 82, Dasilva 90
Nottm Forest (1) 1 Danilo 45
Two goals in the last eight minutes stunned relegation-haunted Nottingham Forest and handed the Bees renewed hope in the battle for European places.
After an Ivan Toney free-kick had found the net, Josh Dasilva became the man of the hour, deep into seven minutes of injury time, when he drifted into that familiar inside right channel before drilling in at the near post.
There was an agonising wait as VAR checked for a possible offside, but Yoane Wissa, although standing offside, was not deemed to be interfering with play.
It was perhaps cruel on Forest, who stole into the lead at the end of the first half and then defended for their lives, but in truth they offered little going forward and their wrteched away form looks like it could be their undoing in the final reckoning.
The win for Thomas Frank’s men was very welcome and the ideal follow-up to the 2-0 midweek win at Chelsea. It was their first win at the Gtech in four games since the win against Fulham in early March.
They were far from convincing for the most part. They had a ton of possession (two-thirds, more or less) but struggled to find the guile needed to open up a Forest team fighting for its life.
But they have made a habit of digging deep at the depth to tip the scales.
Frank should take credit for the recovery, with Dasilva coming on for a disappointing Mikkel Damsgaard after an hour a key to the success, as was the introduction of Frank Onyeka and Wissa.
The equaliser came from a familiar source – an Ivan Toney set piece.
Onyeka, one of the second half subs, was fouled by Cheikhou Kouyate 25 yards out and Toney whipped the subsequent free-kick low towards Kaylor Navas’ left hand post.
The former Real Madrid keeper was late to it and only succeeded in pushing it onto a post and seeing the ball cannon back off him and into the net. One for the dubious goals panel.
Both Onyeka and Aaron Hickey fired shots that almost found the net – the first being just about stopped by a scrambling Navas, the second inches wide of the keeper’s right-hand post. But the Bees’ late pressure told in the end.
In a nondescript sort of first half, the game reached stoppage time without too much happening and certainly with Forest barely threatening.
But out of nothing the visitors were ahead when a long throw-in from the left ended in the ball emerging from a mass of bodies for Morgan Gibbs-White to fire goalwards. The effort was blocked but fell kindly to the feet of Danilo eight yards out and the chance was buried.
It raised their hopes, but the story did not end well for them.
Bees: (4-3-3) Raya – Hickey, Pinnock, Mee, Henry (Wissa 60) – Damsgaard (Dasilva 60), Janelt (Onyeka 71), Jensen (Baptiste 71) – Mbeumo, Toney, Schade (Ghoddos 77). Subs not used: Cox, Zanka, Roerslev, Stevens
Forest: (3-4-2-1) Navas – Worrall, Felipe, Niakhate – Aurier, Mangala (Yates 80), Danilo, Lodi – Johnson (Kouyate 64), Gibbs-White – Awoniyi (Ayew 54) Subs not used: Hennessey, Lingard, Toffolo, Surridge, Freuler, Dennis
Attendance: 17,080
