Brentford B rounded off their trip to Holland with a 2-1 win over Jong AZ Alkmaar at the AFAS Training Complex.

The winning goal came courtesy of Charlie Farr in the 88th minute after the home side had cancelled out Brentford’s lead a few minutes prior. The Bees had the lead courtesy of an AZ own goal following a Val Adedokun corner earlier in the game.

Neil MacFarlane made three changes to the side that started the 1-1 draw with Jong PSV a few days ago as Nico Jones and Isaac Holland came into the team alongside a trialist goalkeeper.

Similarly to PSV, AZ saw a lot of the ball and the Bees had to be strong in their shape as they looked to use the wide areas to threaten when in possession.

Alkmaar’s Iman Griffith started brightly as he looked to use his pace and trickery to outwit the Bees defence. On eight minutes he worked his way into the box before forcing Nico Jones into a smart block from his shot in the centre of the area.

It was Brentford who had the ball in the net first, but the celebrations were cut short after Aaron Pressley headed home from an Alex Gilbert cross but the goal was ruled out after the referee adjudged the youngster to have fouled whilst challenging in the air.

A minute or so later Gilbert almost got himself on the scoresheet when brilliant play out wide from Michael Olakigbe saw him beat his man and cross for the Brentford captain, but his header was pushed over by the AZ keeper.

On 13 minutes Griffith struck just wide of goal and there were a couple more moments through Damienus Reverson, whose shot was saved, before Mexx Merdink turned well on 25 minutes before curling an effort just wide of the right-hand post from the edge of the box.

Brentford had the last of the action before the break and it came in a fluid counter-attack. A ball forward in the air towards Ryan Trevitt saw him head first time out wide into the path of Charlie Farr before the right back squared to Gilbert. The Brentford number 10 got his shot away but the keeper made a good save to keep the score at 0-0.

The second half was eight minutes old when the B Team went ahead. A corner kick from Adedokun was aimed towards the head of Tristan Crama but substitute Vasilios Pavlidis tried to head clear but inadvertently nodded into his own net.

Brentford could well have had a penalty on the hour when Trevitt did well out on the left before he crossed towards the far post for the onrushing Isaac Holland. It seemed as if the 17-year-old would get there first ahead of the AZ defender but as he went to strike he collided with his opponent and went down but the referee waved any claims of a penalty away.

AZ continued to keep the ball but they were struggling to really cut through the Brentford back line as they were reduced to more shots from the edge of the box from Loek Postma and Job Kalisvaart.

Aaron Pressley then had a volley go over as the Bees looked to double their lead whilst Gilbert also had a couple of shots from the edge of the box which the keeper saved.

With five minutes left of the 90 AZ did get their goal, though, and it came when they worked the ball out on the left before a cross came in and Jayden Addai was first to it as he headed in at the far post.

The match wasn’t going to end level, though, as Brentford got their second of the afternoon when Gilbert sent the ball forward into the path of substitute Tony Yogane. The youngster then fed a brilliant ball into the path of the onrushing Farr, who composed himself and took the ball inside onto his left foot, before curling home to give the Bees a deserved win in Holland.

Jong AZ: Deen, van Aken, Goes, Engel, Dekkers, Twisk, Griffith, Schouten, Meerdink, Reverson, Allouch

Subs: Schilder, Stam, Olofsson, Pavlidis, Kewal, Postma, Koster, Addai, Kalisvaart

Brentford B: Trialist, Farr, Adedokun, Waruih (Wilcox, 64), Crama, Jones, Olakigbe (Yogane, 64), Trevitt, Pressley (Lisbie, 82), Gilbert, Holland (Dickov, 64)

Subs not used: Trialist, Pruti, Wilson