Draw specialists Brentford unable to cash in on second half superiority as Leno ensures Fulham clean sheet

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Premier League

Brentford 0

Fulham 0

A frantic game full of good intentions meandered to the conclusion which had looked on the cards almost from the word go.

The Bees will feel they did enough to pinch it towards the end - when it needed a superb Bernd Leno save to ensure parity - but this was game of modest and only fleeting excitement.

For once, Harry Wilson was not able to turn the game Fulham's way. He had scored in the previous three encounters between the sides - all of them won by the Whites. This time, he had a late half-chance but failed to connect properly with his weaker right foot with a ball launched in from the left.

The draw is Brentford's fifth in a row in the league and although they remain very much in the mix when it comes to European qualification, they could have done with turning one of two of those into a win.

There was plenty of pace in the game. The tempo was good and the fans at both ends of the Gtech were in good voice for this west London derby. But neither side could make the desired impact in the opposition area.

Only three points separated these sides at kick off, though that was enough to put the Bees five places higher in the table and a whisker away from sixth placed Chelsea. They look the more likely European contenders.

The underwhelming nature of the first 45 minutes was no real surprise, given that Fulham had failed to score in the first half of their eight previous away games. They have now equalled an unwanted club record by making it nine.

The Bees looked more threatening as the game wore on though. Dango Ouatarra 's shot at goal packed a punch but was well seen by Leno. Mikkel Damsgaard hooked a shot just over from Kevin Schade's knock down.

The Bees started to apply pressure and during their better spell, Sasa Lukic was lucky not to collect a second yellow for pulling back an escaping player - Keith Andrews and his players certainly thought so.

Mathias Jensen curled a free-kick towards the top corner and Leno tipped it off target. Michael Kayode's long flat throw almost carved open a chance for Keane Lewis-Potter, but only a brilliant save from Leno at the death denied Ouatarra from close range after the ball had been whipped into the six yard box by Lewis-Potter.

Given that the Bees had a weak bench and made no substitutions throughout, the moral victory was probably theirs, but this game will not live too long in the memory.

Bees: (4-2-3-1) Kelleher - Kayode, van den Berg, Collins, Lewis-Potter - Yarmoliuk, Jensen - Ouatarra, Damsgaard, Schade - Igor Thiago

Whites: (4-2-3-1) Leno - Castagne, Andersen, Bassey, Sessegnon (Robinson 81) - Lukic, Cairney (Bobb 81) - Wilson, Smith Rowe (King 67), Iwobi (Chukwueze 43) - Rodrigo Muniz (Jimenez 67)

Attendance: 17,171