Banged up Bees worth a point at Southend

A patched-up Brentford side forced to make three substituions in the opening hour and finished with another player limping heavily still proved more than a match for Southend United at Roots Hall on Tuesday night.

A point was of little use to the Shrimpers, who remain deep in relegation trouble.

But, after losing Wojciech Szczesny, Marcus Bean and Karleigh Osborne to injury, the Bees will have been happy to settle for a point, courtesy of two clinical strikes from their in-form strikeforce of Charlie MacDonald and Carl Cort.

Bees boss Andy Scott was happy enough with a point: “For the last 15 minutes, we played with a side that was out on its feet with all the injuries.

"You’ve got to be pleased to get something. They put a lot of pressure on us with balls in the box.

"But we might have nicked it at the end as well when we had a couple of good chances.”

Scott made just one change to the side that comfortably beat Huddersfield Town on Saturday, recalling the fit-again Pim Balkestein, with Karleigh Osborne moving to right-back and Danny Foster dropping to the bench.

Brentford created the first chance of the game, when a good early ball from MacDonald played in Lewis Grabban, who burst into the box down the right and saw his chipped shot land on the roof of Steve Mildenhall’s net.

Cort and MacDonald combined to give the Bees the lead, when former Shrimper MacDonald raced on to a low pass from his fellow striker and fired a low shot across Mildenhall into the bottom left-hand corner.

Southend threatened when Simon Francis sent a curling free-kick towards the back post and Scott Vernon headed inches wide of Szczesny’s right-hand post.

Some neat passing from Southend resulted in Franck Moussa setting up Francis Laurent on the edge of the box, but he hit his shot high over the bar.

After Brentford lost Bean and Osborne to injury by half-time, the Shrimpers made by far the brighter start to the second half.

After a couple of early chances, Alan McCormack came close with a 30-yard shot that was inches over Szczesny’s crossbar.

Southend eventually made the pressure count 10 minutes into the half after creating a chance down the right that saw Francis play the ball into Laurent and his shot was deflected past Szczesny by Balkestein.

Brentford retook the lead against the run of play, when Grabban did well to win the ball in midfield and slipped the ball to Cort, who fired a low shot across Mildenhall into the right hand corner.

Southend drew level immediately from the restart, brealing down the right for Moussa to slot the ball home from close range at the near post.

Brentford’s evening took a further turn for the worse when Szczesny was stretchered off with an ankle injury.

Substitute Nikki Bull made an easy save when Francis hit a 30-yard free-kick that provided an easy catch.

The Bees had a decent chance when MacDonald and Cort combined to provide Myles Weston with a snapshot from the edge of the box, which was palmed away by Mildenhall.

With Brentford having already made all three substitutions, Balkestein was forced to hobble around in midfield after a reoccurrence of his groin injury.

Despite this setback, the Bees saw out the remaining time, including seven added minutes, with Bull doing very well to punch two successive corners clear deep into stoppage time, while Grabban saw Mildenhall block his shot when clean through and facing a one-on-one with the Bees striker.

Brentford: Szczesny (sub Bull 66); Osborne (sub Foster h/t), Balkestein, Legge, Wood; Grabban, Bean (sub Hunt 42), Diagouraga, Weston; Cort, MacDonald

Subs (not used): Strevens, Blake, Saunders, Ainsworth

Attendance: 6,838 (401 Bees fans)

Goals: MacDonald 21, Cort 62

Man of the match: Leon Legge

Match rating: 3/6