Brentford 2-2 Blackburn Rovers: Jacob Davenport's late equaliser denies Bees
- Published
Jacob Davenport's goal was his first league goal of the season
Jacob Davenport rescued a point for 10-man Blackburn Rovers against Brentford in the first match played in front of fans at the Community Stadium.
Joe Rothwell put Rovers in front with a super solo effort, running past three reluctant challenges before lashing a shot into the corner from 18 yards.
A straight red card for Blackburn skipper Darragh Lenihan after bringing down Ivan Toney looked harsh, but the in-form striker took full advantage, firing the penalty into the bottom corner to level.
Sergi Canos' own moment of magic put the Bees ahead, dancing past three challenges before lashing a shot into the far top corner, but Davenport poked home a late equaliser after the hosts failed to clear.
It was a poignant day for the Bees as they welcomed fans into the Brentford Community Stadium for the first time since its September opening, but it was Rovers who started the better, and Rothwell hit a low drive inches wide in the opening minute before beating David Raya in style.
Brentford Community Stadium hosted fans for the first time as 2,000 Bees supporters were allowed in
However, Lenihan's dismissal and the resultant spot-kick drew the hosts level although they could not exploit their man advantage, with neither side managing a second attempt on target before the break.
Much of the build-up centred on the match-up between the Championship's top scorers Adam Armstrong and Toney who had racked up 27 goals between them prior to kick-off, but aside from Toney's clinical penalty both had a quiet afternoon.
The hosts predictably dominated possession after the interval, with Emiliano Marcondes firing a 25-yard effort a yard past the post, before Canos' super strike looked to have wrapped up a fourth straight win for Thomas Frank's in-form side.
Curling efforts from Josh Dasilva and substitute Bryan Mbeumo flashed just wide as Bees looked to seal victory, bit their failure to add to the lead cost them when when Davenport's late intervention extended Blackburn's unbeaten run to seven matches.
Brentford are now unbeaten in nine and remained in sixth place, while Rovers, who have scored 31 times in 16 league matches, stayed in ninth.
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank told BBC Radio London:
"I think the fans were fantastic, they made it very noisy and they did everything they could.
"I'm just so disappointed that we couldn't give them the win they deserved and I that I also think we deserved.
"We can't really complain, when we're playing 11 against 10 we can only blame ourselves."
Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"I sit here every week with you and talk about officials. I find it really difficult, because having been in the game since leaving school 40 years ago you know football and it's just realty sad sometimes when they guys in the middle don't seem to know it well enough.
"We were frustrated I think, I'm not sure whether that's a sending off, he just seemed to spoil the game really, in the context of the game I think it was a good contest and you can understand if someone's going through and he gets dragged back or it's a really poor tackle, but it looked to me as if it's two guys going for the ball, both putting arms across each other, his guy goes down and he sends him off.
"I think it's a really, really poor decision and obviously it had a massive impact on the game, because from being pretty dominant for long, long spells in that first 36 minutes we had to change tack and we sit here happy enough that we take a point from that."