Brentford’s Development Squad were denied their first victory of 2016 as Ipswich Town came from behind to secure a point at a wet and windy Griffin Park this afternoon in the U21 Professional Development League Two South.
Bradley Clayton put Flemming Pedersen’s side in front ten minutes before the break as he latched onto Reece Cole’s through ball and neatly tucked home from close range. The Tractor Boys had created very little to worry Jack Bonham in the home goal but found a leveller midway through the second-half as Chris Smith controlled a Shane McLoughlin cutback and finished well into the bottom corner.
With Storm Imogen bringing strong wind and rain to the south of England it was a match that was low on goalscoring chances as both sides struggled to cope with the conditions.
Jan Holldack saw an early effort brilliantly turned behind by Jacob Marsden as the German midfielder met Clayton’s low cutback while Victor Guldbrandsen shot well over and Conor McKendry volleyed off target for the visitors but that was the sum of the attacking play from the opening 20 minutes.
Bonham was out quickly to save at the feet of McLoughlin and Holldack’s effort bobbled through to Marsden via a couple of deflections before The Bees did make a chance count after 34 minutes. Jermaine Udumaga, recently returned from a loan spell with Wycombe Wanderers, beat two challenges in the midfield and found Cole who timed his ball to Clayton to perfection and the striker beat Marsden with a calm finish from close range.
That advantage could have been doubled in the early moments of the second-half but Herson Rodrigues Alves poked wide from Tom Field’s pull-back. Despite the conditions The Bees backline, and in particular the centre-back pairing of Emmanuel Onariase and Chris Mepham, were restricting Ipswich to long-range efforts. Adam McDonnell sent a couple of efforts from distance off target before Cole’s ambitious free-kick from 30 yards was well held by Marsden.
Ipswich had looked dangerous from set-pieces throughout the afternoon and so it proved as they pulled level midway through the half. A deep free-kick by Kyle Hammond held up in the wind and evaded everybody allowing McLoughlin to turn it back to Smith who controlled and fired home from a tight angle.
Pedersen’s side looked to respond and Alves again got himself on the end of a flowing Brentford move that involved Clayton and Holldack but couldn’t beat Marsden with his shot from 12 yards before Hammond came close to snatching the points for the visitors in the dying minutes. First his wind-affected cross had to be turned behind by Bonham before, in injury-time, The Bees stopper was equal to his fierce drive from the angle. In the end both sides had to settle for a point with Brentford’s next match being a trip to table-topping Charlton Athletic next Monday.
Brentford: Jack Bonham; Gradi Milenge (sub Zach Birse 80 mins), Chris Mepham, Emmanuel Onariase, Tom Field; Reece Cole, Jan Holldack, Jermaine Udumaga (sub Zain Westbrooke 60 mins); Herson Rodrigues Alves (sub Courtney Senior 80 mins), Bradley Clayton, Kyjuon Marsh-Brown Subs not used: Nik Tzanev
Ipswich Town: Jacob Marsden; Josh Emmanuel, Chris Smith, Joe Robinson, Myles Kenlock; Kyle Hammond, Victor Guldbrandsen (sub James Blanchfield 45 mins), Adam McDonnell, Conor McKendry (sub Ross Meldrum 90 mins); Sam Ford (sub Kemal Ramadhan 83 mins), Shane McLoughlin Subs not used: Harry Wright, Kolade Salaudeen