Brentford manager Keith Andrews said his side’s calmness at half-time was key to turning around their Premier League clash with Newcastle United, as the Bees came from a goal down to win 3–1 at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Harvey Barnes had put Newcastle ahead in the first half, and Brentford trailed 1–0 at the break before goals from Kevin Schade and a late double from Igor Thiago, including a 95th-minute penalty, completed the turnaround. Newcastle finished the game with ten men after Dan Burn was sent off for a second yellow in the 73rd minute.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Keith Andrews admitted he was disappointed with the opening 45 minutes but credited his players’ composure for the second-half response.
> Yeah, it’s really disappointing, but it’s the game, it’s life, I spoke about it at halftime, it’s how we react now.
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> It’s always about the reactions regardless of whether good things happen, bad things happen on the pitch. It’s always how we react to the next action.
>
> So we were nice and calm at halftime, spoke about what we needed to just fine-tune a little bit, where we could expose them a little bit, but just adding a little bit of calmness to our play was the key in the second half.
When asked whether greater intensity in attack had also been a factor in the comeback, the Brentford boss doubled down on his belief that staying composed made the difference.
> Yeah, maybe, but I think definitely the calmness was the key for me, and just staying calm without the ball on occasion as well. Stopping transitions was a big part of it and yeah, listen, overall I think we were worthy of the win.
Keith Andrews also highlighted Brentford’s growing reputation as a set-piece threat, with another long throw leading to a crucial goal.
> Yeah, very nice. I thought we could have got one or two more today, it looked really, really dangerous, been coming.
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> I feel that’s been a weapon for us for a long time, clearly, but yeah, overall today set piece-wise we looked a real threat.
The result lifts Brentford back into mid-table and marks another impressive scalp for Keith Andrews since taking over. And while the comeback was full of energy, the manager made clear that the foundation was built on something far simpler, staying calm when it mattered most.
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