No surprises as Brentford and Fulham drift towards predictable stalemate
Brentford (0) 0
Fulham (0) 0
It was not the worst end-of-season 0-0 you've ever seen - but it was always struggling to avoid the inevitable outcome. Long before the end, everyone knew the way this one was heading.
A total lack of jeopardy, thanks to both side being free of relegation worries - contributed to the end of term ennui that infects so many games at this stage of the season.
Fulham had slightly the better of it, without ever quite mastering the end product needed to cash in on the string of errors coughed up by both sides.
There were some late corners for the Bees and a few quick breaks from deep by the visitors, but it did seem probable, long before the end, that fans would be filing out of the Gtech with memory banks already wiping the slate clean after a forgettable 90 minutes.
The fans did their best to spice it up a bit with some sort of derby fervour.
Fulham fans were chanting the name of Joe Bryan at Bees fans at the start - the man whose goals defeated them at Wembley in the play-off final which was soon rendered less significant, as the the Bees went up and Fulham came down the following season.
But with three wins in the previous four meetings - the last one being a 3-0 trouncing for the Whites at the Cottage in August - the hosts could afford to let those jibes slide.
Both sides had a moment in the early exchanges. Alex Iwobi thundered a shot just over and Bryan Mbeumo clipped the crossbar after being set free down the right channel by Ivan Toney. Calvin Bassey's jockeying ended with the defender helping to deflect the ball onto the woodwork.
Iwobi was the liveliest man on show and he cut in from the right before planting a shot straight at Mark Flekken - the Bees keeper untroubled by the attempt, as was the case with most of the other fragmented attacks put together by both teams.
A second half full of huffing and puffing, but to little end, should have had an end product on 73 minutes when two Fulham subs combined. Adama Traore got in behind the Bees rearguard, but his cross to an unmarked Raul Jimenez - on for Muniz - went to waste after a disappointing waft over the bar.
Disappointing was probably the word which best summed up a sunny afternoon of diminished stakes.
Bees: (5-3-2) Flekken - Lewis-Potter (Wissa 66), Ajer (Roerslev 45), Collins, Pinnock, Reguilon - Damsgaard (Schade 82), Norgaard (Onyeka 82), Janelt (Yarmoliuk 66) - Mbeumo, Toney
Whites: (4-2-3-1) Leno - Castagne, Diop, Bassey, Robinson - Joao Palhinha, Lukic (Cairney 76) - Iwobi (Wilson 90+3), Pereira (Decordova-Reid 76), Willian (Adama 64) - Muniz (Jimenez 64)
Attendance: 17,090
