Brentford 2-2 Cardiff City
- Published
Peter Whittingham stroked home his fifth goal and second penalty of the season to give Cardiff City the lead at Brentford
A glut of late goals at Griffin Park saw honours shared between Brentford and Cardiff City.
The visitors went ahead thanks to a 24th minute penalty by Peter Whittingham, but were pegged back by a great strike from substitute Sullay Kaikai with six minutes left.
Neil Warnock's men thought they had snatched the win when Kenneth Zohore raced clear to score on 88 minutes.
But in added time, Kaikai headed in to frustrate the Bluebirds.
It was a showing which will have frustrated Bluebirds' boss Warnock, who has bemoaned his side's defending as they look to escape the relegation battle at the bottom of the Championship.
Whittingham, nearing a decade at the Welsh club, coolly gave Cardiff the lead from the spot after referee Simon Hooper decided Andreas Bjelland brought Cardiff defender Sean Morrison down in the box.
Brentford huffed and puffed for an equaliser and might have had it sooner but for a couple of fine saves from Brian Murphy, who was making his debut in the Cardiff goal.
In the second half, Murphy first denied Ryan Woods and then pulled off an even better stop to thwart John Egan with 15 minutes left.
Murphy was finally beaten when 21-year-old Kaikai cut inside from the left and fired home an excellent shot.
Zohore looked to have had the final say for the visitors when he poked beneath onrushing goalkeeper Daniel Bentley, but more drama followed when Bees defender John Egan crossed for Kaikai to head home his second and earn Dean Smith's side a point.
Brentford manager Dean Smith:
"I find it amazing that we have not had a single penalty this season but we have been there before. The officiating has not been the best this season and that is something that needs to improve.
"That said, we should not have got ourselves into that position in the first place.
"We started brightly but then they got the penalty and we lost a bit of confidence.
"We started to go a little bit more direct but we had a talk at half-time and came out a lot stronger."
Cardiff manager Neil Warnock:
"We can be a decent team but a team has to be 11 lads on the same wavelength or opponents at this level will find you out.
"One or two out there didn't have the desire when we needed it most and need to look at themselves."
"The lads want to punish me. They don't want to make it easy for me.
"It seems like a loss to be honest. Some of our experienced lads have to stand up - we have one or two who just please themselves instead of taking the game by the scruff of the neck."