Having been unable to secure a ticket to Luton for Today’s match I’ve been a bag of nerves all day. Unable to even follow the match because of how crucial it’s result will be for our season.
A win would mean a 10 point gap to the drop zone with just 12 left to play for and the chance to be safe before kicking off at Goodison next weekend, but a loss would drag us back to just 4 points away from the dreaded dotted line.
I had to run out to Wembley and experience the atmosphere of the FA Cup Semi-final build up just to distract myself.
Our record outside London this season is undeniably abysmal and with Goodison Park our destination next weekend being a notoriously hellish place to go today would be the day to turn that record around.
The bottom 2 are no threat, so today we were facing down the only team that could send us down. They could reach a maximum of 40 points before kick-off, so all we need is 8 points from the final 5 matches and getting 3 from this one would settle a ton of my nerves.
Those were my thoughts before the match so the grin that splashed itself across my face as I watched the highlights on Match of the Day could have lit up the whole of England.
From minute 1 the Bees belied any nerves by swarming all over their hosts and refusing to retrieve their knees for the orange necks until the final whistle.
Yoane Wissa’s first goal of the afternoon saw the visitors sweep the ball from one end of the pitch to the back of the net with just 3 touches.
A sumptuous ball over the top from Kristoffer Ajer dropped into Bryan Mbuemo’s stride down the right, the Cameroon international’s deft flick took out the remains of the Hatter’s defence and left a charging Wissa the simple task of smashing home past a stranded Thomas Kaminski.
The home keeper was left wandering how his defenders had evaporated into fresh air again just before the break as a simple 1-2 between Wissa and Mbuemo left the former with the simplest of tap-ins from the edge of the 6-yard box.
If Rob Edwards hoped that the half-time break would hail a change in the host’s fortunes this was snuffed out by the returning Ethan Pinnock just after the hour mark.
On his first start since picking up an injury during the miracle of Wolverhampton the Jamaican international proved his worth to the Londoner’s by firing a bullet header home from 8 yards simply by outmuscling his marker.
Luton’s defending to this point could charitably be described as amateurish and for the Bees fourth goal, just 2 minutes later, it was truly woeful. All it took was one misplaced pass 20 yards out and 5 seconds later Kaminski was picking the ball out of the net.
Mikkel Damsgaard picked up the loose ball and with one flick of his foot took 6 Luton players out of the game.
Mbuemo was on his wavelength though and snapped onto the pass before stretching to flick a bouncing ball across a six-yard box devoid of teammate for a Keane Lewis-Potter to ghost in and nod home at the back post.
With fresh air all that was left defending the home goal Kevin Shade took the opportunity to reopen his Bees account as he continues his return from a season curtailing injury. He was picked out by a Vitaly Janelt’s lateral across the edge of the 6-yard box for him to rifle home at the back post with not a hatter in sight to stop him.
As with many of Brentford’s best moves of the match Mbuemo was involved again and it was solely due to his unwavering unselfishness that his virtuoso winger/midfielder performance was not capped with a goal, having seen a thunderbolt cannon of the bar when the score was just 1-0.
The only thing that could take any shine of the Bee’s 5-star performance was the 92nd minute consolation goal gifted to Luton by a loose pass from Janelt on his 100th Premier League appearance for the club.
In truth though Brentford were so dominant that nothing could ruin the elation of their victory over the only team that can still squirm out of the bottom 3.
The visitors returned home safe in the knowledge that they could be safe before they kick-off again and even in the unlikely event that Luton win every one of their remaining games 3 more points is all we require to be mathematically safe.
With this win in the bag Brentford can start planning in earnest for another season in the Premier League and with better luck on injuries and returning to the top half of the table they had finished in during each of their previous seasons at this level.
As for Luton, things now look extremely bleak with just 4 games left to bridge the gap to safety and their nearest rivals awaiting the results of appeals against the points deductions that have left them within the Hatter’s reach.
The Football tourist 