Brentford B 0 Sutton United 1 | OneFootball

Brentford B continued their pre-season campaign with a clash against Sutton United, Neil MacFarlane’s side going down 1-0 in an entertaining contest.

Following a 2-0 defeat to Hanwell Town last time out, the young Bees put together a more complete performance after a hotly contested opening 10 minutes.

Sutton came out the better of the two sides in the first half, dominating possession in their front half and putting Brentford’s defenders under pressure.

Some early chances went over the bar for the visitors, however it was their trialist who hit the back of the net on 17 minutes, his strike from just inside the box beating keeper Reggie Rose into the bottom right corner to make it 1-0.

Sutton nearly doubled their lead three minutes later, as Matt Rush headed it home off a deflection, however he was ruled offside.

Despite some early dominance from the visitors, the young Bees wrestled back some momentum as the halfway mark of the first half approached, Neil MacFarlane’s side able to control some possession inside their forward half.

Brentford’s best chance of the first half came on 33 minutes, Max Dickov taking a flying shot from the edge of the box that was well saved by Steve Arnold in goal for Sutton.

The visitors' trialist was at it again on 38 minutes, the number nine firing a powerful strike from the edge of the box, however Rose made a strong save diving to his left.

Rose was in the action again two minutes later, the keeper giving away a penalty on the left hand side of the box. Rush stepped up to shoot from the spot, Rose reading his strike and making a superb save diving to his right to prevent a 2-0 deficit going into half-time.

It was an even contest as the second half got under way, both sides enjoying some promising play without troubling the scoreboard.

The young Bees almost found an equaliser on 58 minutes, Beaux Booth finding Dickov with a great through ball who then found Trialist B for a shot, which was deflected away for a corner.

The visitors came close to adding a second just minutes later as Nana Boateng ran onto a great pass inside the box, but Ollie Shield made a last-ditch slide tackle from behind to save a certain goal.

Both sides emptied their benches in the second half with a host of substitutes coming on, providing some fresh legs to continue the up-tempo game.

Despite Brentford’s efforts to find an equaliser and Sutton’s attempts to double their lead, neither eventuated as the visitors took home a 1-0 win.

Brentford B: Rose (Tavaziva, 73’), Trialist A (McManus, 45’), Trialist B, Trialist C (Trialist F, 80’), Samuels (Headman, 64’), Agyei (Grey, 73’), Shield (McSorley, 64’), Dickov (Halil, 64’), Trialist D (Holland, 50’), Booth, Hay (Trialist E, 73’)

Sutton United: Arnold (Roberts, 67’), Trialist (Trickett, 45’), Ransom (Muller, 74’), Harris (Odelusi, 74'), Coley (Sivi, 74'), Trialist (Vaz, 74’), Rush (Davies, 45’), Boateng (De Silva, 74'), French (Taylor, 74’), Simper (Wadham, 74'), Jackson (Williams, 74’)