Bryan Mbeumo?s retaken penalty helps earn Brentford win at Crystal Palace

For Brentford, there was a measure of relief. It?s probably fair to say that the run of one win in nine games in which they went into this weekend was not representative of how they?d played but, still, it?s as well to stifle as early as possible any thought that they were going through a mid-winter slump similar to last season?s. Survival may not quite be mathematically assured but breaking the 30-point mark with 15 games remaining makes it almost certain they will be in the Premier League next season.
After a slow start, the game was rather better than the conditions. It was an afternoon of truly filthy weather, a raw morning yielding to heavy rain, a blustery breeze, and skies of unremitting grey. It was an afternoon to be grateful for modern drainage, the pitch remaining slick and green throughout. With Brentford in a blancmange pink and aubergine away kit that evoked the once-aspirational bathroom in a seedy bedsit in which terrible things have happened from an 80s crime drama, the overall effect was of almost artistic bleakness, a sort of Croydon Noir.
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