10:20am Friday 22nd January 2010
By Will Gore
Football finally returned to Griffin Park this week and what a relief it was, too.
Picking up three points against Carlisle United was vital, with tough games against Southampton and Norwich City on the horizon.
It was great to see the Bees continue their pre-Christmas momentum and equally wonderful to see Carlisle’s silver-haired midfielder Graham Kavanagh belying his age by responding to “old man” taunts with a classic schoolboy trick.
As the abuse rained down from the Ealing Road, he pretended to scratch the side of his head while cunningly disguising a two-fingered salute. Good work, Graham – you showed all your experience there!
In contrast, the defeat to Doncaster Rovers in the cup a couple of days later was a disappointment, although it was tempered by the fact that the Bees turned in a great performance against their Championship opponents.
Before the game, I fell – like many others, I suspect – into the trap of believing that our pitch, which currently resembles a First World War battleground, would give us the edge over a Donny side renowned for their slick passing football.
But this hoary old cliché was proved a complete load of nonsense as the Doncaster players knocked the ball around on our winter-ravaged surface with apparent ease.
We gave it our best shot, too, and were well worth a replay – Donny’s late winner was cruel and very jammy.
Apart from the nature of the goal we conceded, the only thing that left a sour taste in the mouth was the attendance.
The fact that fewer than 3,000 turned out to watch the game is a shame, especially as the stayaways missed a cracking match.
I have lambasted Gillingham for their prohibitive ticket prices, so it would be remiss of me not to point out that Brentford should not be charging £20 for the privilege of standing to watch an FA Cup game on a cold Tuesday night (and paying £3 for an out-of-date programme!).
Surely £15, plus a fiver for kids, would have been reasonable and might have encouraged a few more through the turnstiles?
Perhaps the club’s hands are tied over the pricing for the cup games and low FA Cup attendances is not a phenomenon unique to Brentford, but something should be done.
Despite my carping on about less-than-illustrious draws this season, I still look forward to FA Cup games and it would be a shame if the competition was allowed to become another Carling Cup.
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