Brighton and Hove Albion 0 Brentford 1
Brighton and Hove Albion suffered their first defeat of the pre-season as they were beaten 1-0 by Brentford in a friendly at the Amex Stadium.
Brighton fielded a visibly weakened line up for the game but it gave opportunities to several young players to impress manager Graham Potter before the start of the new campaign.
The game started slowly and only burst into life in the 24th minute when Julio Enciso’s freekick was headed into the back of the net on the rebound by Matt Clarke.
Albion’s joy was short-lived, however, as the linesman’s flag ruled it out for offside.
The home side were looking the stronger of the two teams and had their best chance of the half in the 35th minute when Neal Maupay’s sharp effort appeared to be arrowing in, only to hit the post, much to the frustration of the former Brentford man.
Brighton’s dominance continued in the second half, with Maupay still the biggest threat, and he almost broke the deadlock in the 66th minute with an effort from inside the box.
Somehow it was blocked by the Brentford defence in the nick of time.
The visitors grew into the game after a string of substitutions for both sides and were rewarded with a goal in the 78th minute.
Substitute Albion goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen’s erroneous clearance fell the way of Yehor Yarmoliuk – and fellow sub Halil Dervisoglu squared the loose ball to Ivan Toney, who finished comfortably to give the Bees an unlikely lead.
Brentford held on for the win, inflicting the first defeat of the pre-season on Brighton who will hope to get back to winning ways as they take on Spanish side Espanyol at the Amex on Saturday (30 July).
