The best news came in the part of the team where there was the least change, the defence. Frank rotated back to the five who’d earned a clean sheet at Birmingham. They got the Bees their third such sheet in five games led by Julian Jeanvier who was the captain for the day. Birthday boy Luke Daniels got his usual cup chance in goal and looked comfortable in place of Daniel Bentley.
It was further up the field that the gaps looked more ominous. Romaine Sawyers was rested and with Kamo Mokotjo on the bench Josh Dasilva got his first start alongside Josh McEachran. In the first half the problem was that they were so alongside that they got in each other’s way. Dasilva had some great moments -a stunning through ball brought a gasp of admiration from the Braemar Road stand and a long shot was just pushed wide. But too often his passes went astray.
It was up front that the biggest absence was noticed, well for 68 minutes at least. That’s the moment when Thomas Frank decided that he couldn’t leave Neal Maupay on the bench any longer. He’d started with Ollie Watkins as central striker, Sergi Canos on the right and Said Benrahma on the left. But the strange fact is that during the first half the player who had the best chances in the heart of the box was none other than left wing-back Rico Henry. He and Moses Odubjao not only set up chances they almost scored from them too. Ollie Watkins’s first clear shot on goal was not until 49 minutes.
When Maupay finally came on it was to replace Benrahma with Watkins switching back to the flank. Immediately the difference up front was obvious. The French striker had more energy and enterprose than his colleagues and it was no surprise when he got the crucial goal in the 80th minute. It came about when Yoann Barbet, how good to see him enjoying a run of starts again, played a fine through ball to the left where Maupay collected it, came inside to get a clearer shot at goal and was tripped by an Oxford defender. He slotted the penalty away in the bottom right hand corner.
Ten minutes were left and a further eight minutes of added time were created when promising young Oxford midfielder, Shandon Baptiste, just back after reconstruction surgery on his shoulder, went down with what looked like a cruciate ligament injury to his knee. The 1,605 sell-out crowd at the away end, who made up more than a quarter of the total attendance, saluted him and urged their team on. During those added minutes Chiedozie Ogbene, recalled by Brentford from a loan to Exeter to reinforce the attacking options, came on as a sub and did some good work in defence too. In a breakaway move Da Silva had the chance to put the result beyond doubt but he misplaced a key pass again. If Oxford United had grabbed a chance in the dying minutes his mistake could have cost Bees dear. As it was at the end he got an encouraging arm around his shoulder from Thomas Frank and the French trio of Maupay, Jeanvier and Barbet strode off with justifiable Gallic pride. In his post match press conference the Head Coach said he hoped Maupay would stay at Brentford ‘for a long,long,time’.You could tell he meant it.
Brentford: Daniels; Konsa,Barbet,Jeanvier; Odubajo, Henry, Dasilva, McEachran; Benrahma (sub Maupay),Canos (Judge),Watkins (Ogbene).
Oxford United:Eastwood; Ruffels,Dickie,Nelson,Hanson;Henry,Mousinho,Graham (Norman); Whyte,Browne,Mackie (Baptiste then Garbutt).