The Brentford B Team drew 1-1 away to Valencia Under-19s at the Valencia Club Foundation Training Centre yesterday evening.
A game of few chances saw The Bees go a goal down right at the end of the first half. In the second, Danny Parish came to the rescue after Reece Cole had been sent off to grab a draw for the 10-men in the dying minutes.
Flemming Pedersen's side were forced into a substitution after only 10 minutes. Goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe came out to challenge an onrushing forward and picked up a knock when the two collided. Young Greek Dimi Kyriatzis was brought on in his place.
After 25 minutes, the ball had rarely entered the final third of each half. Time had to be stopped again when Chris Mepham needed treatment for a cut just above his eye. He was met by an opponent's elbow as he jumped for a long ball and came out needing some attention from the sidelines.
Spanish striker Marc Rio had the best chance of the opening exchanges. Jan Holldack played a ball through the Valencia defence that allowed Rio through on goal. He took a quick shot that the goalkeeper managed to get his foot to, then the follow up under pressure lacked power and was caught easily.
Valencia took the lead right at the end of the first half. A positioning error allowed the hosts some space down the left, and meant Mepham was covering two players at the back. The ball through evaded him and the strike on goal agonisingly crept in at Kyriatzis' near post.
At the break, both fullbacks were exchanged by Pedersen, Tom Field and Lukas Talbro returned to action. There was a chance immediately as Justin Shaibu squared a ball for Holldack on the penalty spot, however the German couldn't wrap his foot around the ball and his shot spiralled wide.
Valencia's coach Javier Sanchis Munoz made several changes at the start of the half, but none seemed likely to break the deadlock. Kryiatzis had two real saves to make. The first was a curling free-kick that needed to be palmed wide, the second was a fizzing shot towards the far post that was tipped expertly away by the 17-year-old.
The Bees were gaining momentum as the night wore on, pushing further onto their opponents and forcing silly mistakes. On more than one occasion the Valencia goalkeeper, who had come on at half time, had no other option but to slash wildly at clearances that ended up back at Brentford feet.
Mepham went closest first, heading a corner inches north of the crossbar. Substitute Herson Alves then nodded a long ball down for Bradley Clayton to strike but it was blocked.
With 18 minutes to go, Brentford were reduced to 10 men. A late challenge on Parish down the wing caused tempers to flare in the middle, prompting the referee to brandish several yellow cards. One of these went to the unfortunate Cole, who had barely been involved at all but who had already picked up a yellow in the opening stages.
The original yellow had come at the bewilderment of most of the players on the pitch. Chasing the ball back into his own half, the midfielder collided with his opponent but play continued and Valencia forced a corner. The referee then pulled back play to make the booking. Overall, a very harsh decision.
In spite of the disadvantage, Pedersen and Kevin O'Connor rallied their side from the touchline. James Ferry and Zain Westbrooke sat back to allow the rest of the team space to move forward, creating more chances as they went.
Clayton had another chance to score when he went one-on-one with the keeper but he was second to the ball by a fraction of a second. Next came Tom Field darting into the box to fire a cross towards the centre only to see it go all the way through the crowded penalty area and pop out the other side unscathed.
Field almost levelled it from just outside the box with a free-kick that was saved acrobatically by the goalkeeper. The resulting corner brought the goal.
A deep cross was met by several players challenging for the header in the middle. It dropped down to Parish, who took one touch to control it before smashing it at goal with his left foot. A slight deflection may have helped the ball on its way into the corner of the net but it didn't matter, Brentford had equalised.
When the final whistle sounded, O'Connor and Pedersen were full of praise for the squad. Playing against a team with six domestic honours in the past few years, and a European title last season, they dominated and very nearly emerged victorious.
Brentford B Starting XI: Ellery Balcombe (sub Dimi Kyriatzis 11 mins); Nathan Fox, Chris Mepham, Jarvis Edobor, Ilias Chatzitheodoridis; Trialist, Reece Cole, Jan Holldack; Danny Parish, Marc Rio, Justin Shaibu
Brentford B Second Half: Dimi Kyriatzis; Lukas Talbro, Chris Mepham, Jarvis Edobor, Tom Field; Trialist (sub Westbrooke 56 mins), Reece Cole, Jan Holldack (sub James Ferry 56 mins); Danny Parish, Marc Rio (sub Bradley Clayton 56 mins), Justin Shaibu (sub Herson Alves 68 mins)