Bees scalp Tigers in Carling Cup (From Your Local Guardian)

Brentford 2 Hull City 1

9:12am Wednesday 25th August 2010 in Sport By Simon Webster

Brentford were worthy winners as they progressed to the third round of the Carling Cup, courtesy of a 2-1 upset win over Championship side Hull City at Griffin Park on Tuesday night.

After an even first half the Bees really took control during the second half and – playing with passion, commitment and a high degree of skill – more than matched a side relegated from the Premier League in the summer.

A stunning free kick from Robbie Simpson and a last minute header from Marcus Bean saw the Bees through on a night when ever single player played his part in a merited victory.

Afterwards a delighted Andy Scott reflected on the commitment shown by his side that produced a match-winning performance: “Tonight we still made a couple of errors, but were decent on the ball, had plenty of energy, created a lot of chances and dominated the game on the ball as well as off of it. Everyone worked their socks off and we could maybe have got a couple of more.”

With on loan goalkeeper Alex McCarthy unavailable, Scott made just one change to the side which drew at Swindon, with Richard Lee making his competitive debut between the sticks.

However, the Bees got off to the worst possible start when Simpson failed to clear a cross from the right, with his header falling to the feet of Mark Cullen, who slammed the ball past Lee to give the Tigers an early lead.

They almost doubled their lead when Robert Koren’s fierce shot was the edge of the box was parried by Lee.

Midway through the half Simpson atoned for his earlier error with a sublime free kick from 25 yards, which found the left hand corner of the net to pull his side level.

Shortly after Simpson struck another free kick into the hands of Matt Duke as the Bees grew in confidence.

Brentford continued in a positive vein after the break, with Myles Weston running through Hull’s midfield before seeing his shot blocked.

At the other end a chip shot from Koren came back off the woodwork, while shortly after Jamie Devitt picked the ball up in midfield before firing a low shot wide right.

As Brentford began to exert some sustained pressure, Gary Alexander had time to turn on the edge of the box before blazing over the bar. Simpson was also denied by a superb save from Duke who blocked his header from close range.

Weston was again involved when his jinking run to the bye-line resulted in his cross bouncing off the top of the crossbar.

With extra time looming, Bean popped up to head home a Charlie MacDonald cross from the right and send his side through to the next round.

Brentford: Lee; O’Connor, Legge, Osborne, Woodman; Simpson, Bean, Diagouraga, Weston; MacDonald, Alexander Subs: Moore, Spillane, Balkestein, Hunt, Cort, Saunders, Forster Attendance: 3335 Man of the Match: Gary Alexander Goals: Simpson 20, Bean 88