Oxford United 3-4 Brentford RECAP: Former Liverpool man puts Bees back in front in friendly thriller

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That’s the final whistle and Brentford have won. Here’s what we took away from the game.

That’s it from us as well. Good night.

Emmanuel Onariase replaces Romaine Sawyers. Ryan Woods the only outfielder to get 90 minutes.

Well, time to catch our breath. Tonight’s attendance is 2,216 with 376 travelling Brentford fans.

GOAL! Oxford United 3-4 Brentford (Canos 80)

Brentford are back in front. Sergi Canos finds space in the area and lashes his shot home. There was some good work from Josh Clarke in the build up.

GOAL! Oxford 3-3 Brentford (Cole 77)

Reece Cole comes on for Josh McEachran and scores with his first touch. A long range free kick finds the net via the underside of the crossbar

Brentford ring the changes

Coming on: Colin, Field, Canos, Egan, Shaibu, Clarke, Canos

Coming off: Jota, Dean, Dalsgaard, Bjelland, Henry, Vibe, Jozefzoon.

Brentford team: Daniels, Colin, Egan, Barbet, Field, Woods, McEachran, Sawyers, Canos, Shaibu, Clarke.

Oxford substitution

Sam Shaban replaced Kane Hemmings

Goal! Oxford 3-2 Brentford (James Henry 61)

Henry is on the scoresheet again as Brentford’s defensive fallibilities are exposed. A cross into the box is turned home although Luke Daniels may be unhappy with his attempt at a save.

Looking like we’re about to get mass-substitution time

Florian Jozefzoon’s shot flies out of the ground and hits a van behind a goal.

GOAL: Oxford 2-2 Brentford (James Henry 54)

Oxford are back level and it’s through James Henry. He turns the ball home from close range after Brentford fail to clear.

Oxford go close

Just as I was writing that, Kane Hemmings gets a clear sight of goal and drives a shot that Luke Daniels is able to parry. Anywhere either side of him and that would be 2-2. This game is limbering up into an exciting one.

Brentford go close

Brentford come close to a third and it was nearly spectacular from Jota. A deep ball into the box is hooked towards goal and strikes the post. Lasse Vibe following up sees his shot blocked on the line. Impressive stuff from the Bees.

We’re back underway. Ran into Peter Gilham here in the Oxford press area and extended our best wishes and support to the Bees legend.

We’ve compiled a quick overview of the first half. You can read that here. We’ll be back with the second 45 minutes of action.

That’s the interval. Brentford have been excellent going forward. A little bit of a problem at the back but they will be happy with their 45 minutes of work there.

GOAL! Oxford United 1-2 Brentford (Johnson 38 pen)

Oxford have had an argument on the pitch about who is taking the penalty. Kane Hemming wanted it but Pep Clotet called for Marvin Johnson to take it. He sends Daniels the wrong way.

Penalty to Oxford

Oxford have a penalty. Luke Daniels was second to the ball behind Wes Thomas, bringing him down.

An Oxford fan is clearly impressed

GOAL! Oxford 0-2 Brentford (Lasse Vibe 31)

Brentford double their advantage through Lasse Vibe. Henrik Dalsgaard picked up the ball on the right flank and his low cross was met by Lasse Vibe, who had coasted through the United defence, driving the ball home.

Danger as Marvin Johnson fires a low dangerous cross into the box that just eludes Wes Thomas. Oxford are having a lot of joy down the right wing but the Brentford defence have been, just about, equal to it.

We’re midway through the first half and, barring a couple of defensive nerves, Brentford have been comfortable. They have looked solid on the ball and have passed it around nicely.

Jota, in his first friendly of the summer, is showing his class and it was his ball that teed up Florian Jozefzoon for the opener after Simon Eastwood in the Oxford goal went off injured.

A concern though as Josh McEachran has gone down and the physio is on. He’s fine to continue.

Good save from Daniels to deny Rob Hall. It was good work from Oxford down the right flank with a neat cutback into the box after Brentford sat off them. Something to learn for the new season maybe.

There are a lot of scouts at the game here tonight including from QPR, Leicester and Wigan among others. Elsewhere, Luke Daniels is in a white t-shirt as his yellow goalkeeper kit clashes wtih Oxford’s yellow.

GOAL! Oxford 0-1 Brentford (Jozefzoon 10)

After a brief delay as Scott Shearer gets changed, he is now onto the pitch. His first touch is to pick the ball out of the back of the net as Oxford fail to clear a corner and Jota’s cross is headed home by Florian Jozefzoon. Bees take the lead.

Eastwood’s night is over and Scott Shearer will be given time to warm up ahead of a Brentford corner.

Concern for Brentford her as Henrik Dalsgaard goes down adter a collision with Oxford goalkeeper Simon Eastwood. He had surged forward and had been played through by Lase Vibe. He’s up now but hte concern is now for Eastwood.

And we’re off and underway here this evening. Brentford kcing from left to right and nearly fall behind as Oxford win a corner following a goalmouth scramble with Kane Hemmings the man denied.

The two teams are out, we’ve had handshakes and the two teams are about to go through their final preparations before the game. Oxford are doing a late warm-up, while the Bees are going into their huddle before the referee stops them for the pre-match picture

What to expect?

We’re under 10 minutes from kick-off here so what can we expect from Brentford tonight?

This is the first friendly that Dean Smith will use to prepare his side for the season opener against Sheffield United with the previous two being used to dust the cobwebs off.

And he has named a strong team. Luke Daniels starts with a view to help his understanding of how Brentford play and help him settle in. Everyone at Brentford knows what Dan Bentley can do so it makes sense.

We aren’t expecting mass changes at half-time with a large number of players likely to play 60 minutes.