Penalty king Toney seals precious win for Brentford over lame Everton

Brentford (1) 1 Toney pen 24

Everton (0) 0

Brentford secured a first home win in the league since the opening weekend triumph over Arsenal and ended a five-game run without a win.

Ivan Toney’s first-half penalty was just enough to get the job done and this will feel like a very big three points, given the context.

For all the plaudits received from neutral observers about their acclimatisation to life in the top flight, it is the hard currency of victories the Bees will require to survive their first exposure to this world. This win was much needed by Thomas Frank’s men.

Everton, who were without England striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin or the Brazilian Richarlison, lacked presence up front and looked particularly feeble before the break.

They did improve in the second half but not nearly enough to turn the tide.

Maybe they have one eye on the midweek derby with Liverpool but this was an impoverished performance from Rafa Benitez’s team.

After an opening 20 minutes pretty much devoid of incident, the game sparked into some semblance of life when the Bees were awarded a penalty following VAR intervention.

A corner whipped in under the bar by Sergi Canos was only partially palmed away by Jordan Pickford, but the loose ball ran to the edge of the area, where Andros Townsend lifted a boot dangerously high into the face of Frank Onyeka in trying to clear.

Ref Darren England saw nothing wrong but Jonathan Moss at Stockley Park phoned it in.

There was never going to be a problem with the spot-kick, as dead-eyed Toney rolled the ball past Pickford’s right.

It was the striker’s fifth goal of the season but first on home turf in the Premier League.

Salomon Rondon came close to grabbing a quick equaliser, but the outstretched boot of Alvaro Fernandez diverted the ball away from its path towards the far bottom corner.

That was not the start of a major response from the Merseysiders, however, and the Bees twice came close to increasing their lead. First, from an Ethan Pinnock header following a long throw from Charlie Goode and then from a low strike by Bryan Mbeumo after Toney’s pass in from the right had found its way to the Frenchman. Pickford was in the way both times.

Had either of those gone in, the second half would have been much less fraught for the home fans, who fretted a little about the extra dynamism provided by sub Demarai Gray.

But in the event, they held on without too much trouble. Toffees fans jeered their team off at the end as Hey Jude rang out.

Bees: (3-5-2) Fernandez – Goode, Jansson, Pinnock – Canos (Wissa 87), Janelt, Onyeka, Norgaard (Baptiste 70), Henry (Roerslev 78) – Mbeumo, Toney. Subs not used: Thompson, Jensen, Forss, Ghoddos, Bech Sorensen, Cox

Toffees: (4-4-1-1) Pickford – Coleman, Godfrey, Keane, Digne – Gordon, Doucoure, Allan, Iwobi – Townsend (Gray 70) – Rondon. Subs not used: Kenny, Delph, Begovic, Tosun, Gbamin, Branthwaite, Simms, Dobin