Brentford Under-21s will eye a winning end to their season when they face Bournemouth Under-21s in Wednesday night’s Professional Development League national final at Vitality Stadium (7pm kick-off BST).
The clash will be the young Bees second final within a week, following last week’s Premier League Cup final loss to QPR.
Neil MacFarlane’s side responded strongly on Monday as they ran away easy winners against Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s in the Robert Rowan Invitational.
Brentford have enjoyed a strong season in the PDL, their first in the competition since the re-opening of the academy.
After a slow start to the campaign, the young Bees went on a long run of winning form, enough to finish second in the south group table with 21 wins, four draws, six losses and +28 goal difference.
That set up a play-off semi-final clash with Sheffield United, who finished top of the north group table. It took until extra time, but MacFarlane’s group did enough to secure a 2-1 win, setting up Wednesday’s final against Bournemouth.
Last time out
Brentford cruised to a dominant win over Tottenham on Monday night, winning 6-1 in the third-annual Robert Rowan Invitational.
Andre Grey, Aaron Hickey and Chanse Headman each scored in the first half, before Under-18 players Emeka Peters, Nedved Owusu and Michel Boni netted once each in the second half.
Last time out in the PDL, MacFarlane’s group gritted out a tough 2-1 semi-final victory over Sheffield United U21s away from home.
Benjamin Fredrick headed home a first-half goal, the young Blades equalising early in the second half.
In extra time, it was Iwan Morgan who found the winner, the forward sending the side to Wednesday night’s final.
This season against Bournemouth, the young Bees have enjoyed three wins from four games across the PDL and PL Cup.
About Bournemouth Under-21s
Bournemouth have enjoyed a stellar PDL season, finishing the season top of the South group table with 21 wins, four draws, six losses and +39 goal difference.
Since a 2-0 loss to Millwall in February, the young Cherries have been near unstoppable in the league, going unbeaten in 15 games, the last 14 of those being wins.
Bournemouth have scored 58 goals in that time, while allowing just 18.
They hosted Burnley in the play-off semi-final and, after going up 4-1, allowed two late goals to eventually win 4-3.
Ticket information
Tickets are available to purchase here.
Match coverage
The club will have updates of the game against Bournemouth on social media, as well as a match report and highlights on the club's official website and app.