Goals from Mikkel Damsgaard, Igor Thiago and Kevin Schade had put the visitors in the driver’s seat after half-an-hour, but two goals from Jaidon Anthony deflected off Michael Kayode and a Zian Flemming header dragged the game back to three-all. Damsgaard won it for Brentford late on, as they took all three points back to the capital.
Brentford ended their run of failing to beat Burnley at Turf Moor, dating back to 1996, and have completed the league double over the Clarets for the first time since 1936.
Brentford first-half domination
The first half started tight, with the Burnley front three putting pressure on the Brentford back four. The first chance of the game came when a corner was floated into the box by Dango Ouattara and was headed home by Mikkel Damsgaard, unmarked on the near side of the six-yard box to give Brentford the lead.
Igor Thiago would continue the Brentford pressure minutes later, beating Joe Worrall and hitting one low for Martin Dubravka to parry.
Burnley piled on the pressure after conceding, with Jaidon Anthony hitting one over from a dangerous position and then Jacob Bruun Larsen slipped in Bashir Humphreys who could only find the palms of Valdimarsson in the Brentford net just before the twenty-minute mark.
Brentford would react well when Thiago found Ouattara on the overlap, but Kevin Schade could not guide his cross goalwards. Thiago would double the Bees’ advantage a minute later, after Damsgaard turned producer and put the Brazilian through for his 18th league goal of the season.
Brentford would have their third just after the half hour mark, when a Kayode long throw found the head of Kristoffer Ajer. The Norwegian headed goalwards and his effort was cleared off the line by Humphreys, but that was to the feet of Kevin Schade who tapped it into the roof of an empty net. You know it’s been a poor first half hour when the home fans are getting involved with the ‘sacked in the morning’ chants.
Burnley back in the game
A handful of Burnley corners put the pressure back on the Brentford defence, before Josh Laurent found Jaidon Anthony on the near side of the box who fired his shot into the back of the net via Michael Kayode just before half time.
An almost carbon copy of the goal started the second half, as **Hannibal**’s cross found Anthony once again whose shot was deflected in off Kayode for the second time in four minutes.
Burnley continued to dominate in the second half and drew level just three minutes later, when Hannibal floated a ball into the box that was headed in by Zian Flemming for his first league goal at Turf Moor all season.
The Clarets did not stop there though, with half-time substitute Lesley Ugochukwu hitting one into the side netting before Keith Andrews looked to his bench for three changes.
Burnley then thought they had completed the comeback after Hannibal slipped in Jaidon Anthony, who’s cross was deflected up in the air and headed down by Flemming for his second of the game. Sadly, VAR found Anthony to be marginally offside, which was met by groans in the home end.
After the lengthy VAR check, the game petered out, with neither team having a clear-cut chance in the last ten minutes. With three minutes to play, Damsgaard nodded home from close range to win it for Brentford, prompting jubilation in the away end.
Burnley once again had the ball in the back of the net just before full time, but late substitute Ashley Barnes was deemed to have handled the ball before striking it into the net, so VAR ruled it out once again.
Brentford stay in 7th, three points clear of Everton below them as they battle for a European spot. Burnley remain eight points adrift going into Nottingham Forest’s game tomorrow.
In a real game of two halves, Mikkel Damsgaard shone brightest from the Brentford side, but Hannibal was pivotal in getting Burnley back into the game and almost securing the win.