Brentford B 0 Sutton United 1

Brentford B continued their pre-season preparations with a match against Sutton United, where Neil MacFarlane’s team went down 1-0 in a thrilling match.

After a 2-0 defeat to Hanwell Town last time out, the young Bees produced a more complete performance after a fiery first 10 minutes.

Sutton were the better of the two teams in the first half, dominating possession in the front half and putting pressure on the Brentford defenders.

A number of early chances for the visitors went over the bar, but it was their test player who found the net in the 17th minute. His shot from just inside the penalty area passed goalkeeper Reggie Rose and ended up in the bottom right corner: 1-0.

Sutton almost doubled their lead three minutes later when Matt Rush headed in a deflected ball, but it was ruled out for offside.

Despite some early dominance from the visitors, the young Bees managed to regain some momentum midway through the first half, with Neil MacFarlane’s team regaining control of possession in the attacking half.

Brentford’s best chance of the first half came in the 33rd minute, when Max Dickov fired from the edge of the box, but Steve Arnold saved for Sutton.

The visitors’ test player was back in action in the 38th minute. The number nine fired a hard shot from the edge of the penalty area, but Rose made a fine save by diving to his left.

Rose was back in action two minutes later, the keeper giving away a penalty on the left side of the box. Rush stepped up to shoot from the spot, Rose read his shot and made a great save diving to his right to prevent a 2-0 deficit at half time.

The second half was evenly matched and both teams played promisingly, without endangering the score.

The young Bees almost equalised in the 58th minute. Beaux Booth found Dickov with a beautiful through ball, who then reached Trialist B for a shot, but the ball was cleared for a corner.

Minutes later the visitors came close to scoring a second when Nana Boateng picked up a great pass into the penalty area, but Ollie Shield made a wobbly tackle from behind to prevent a goal.

In the second half, both teams’ benches were cleared and a number of substitutes came on the field, giving the players some new energy to continue the game at a high tempo.

Despite attempts by Brentford to equalise and attempts by Sutton to double their lead, they were unable to do so and the visitors won 1-0.

Brentford B: Rose (Tavaziva, 73′), Trialist A (McManus, 45′), Trialist B, Trialist C (Trialist F, 80′), Samuels (Headman, 64′), Agyei (Grey, 73′), Shield (McSorley, 64′), Dickov (Halil, 64′), Trialist D (Holland, 50′), Booth, Hay (Trialist E, 73′)

Sutton United: Arnold (Roberts, 67′), Trialist (Trickett, 45′), Ransom (Muller, 74′), Harris (Odelusi, 74′), Coley (Sivi, 74′), Trialist (Vaz, 74′), Rush ( Davies, 45′), Boateng (De Silva, 74′), French (Taylor, 74′), Simper (Wadham, 74′), Jackson (Williams, 74′)