Brentford 0, Albion 2
A place in the fourth round of the FA Cup for Albion for the sixth season in succession also offered a taste of what is to come under Chris Hughton, especially away from The Amex.
They were a team too easy to beat under Sami Hyypia. A naive 3-2 defeat at Griffin Park in the league in September was a good example.
They will be much harder to beat under Hughton, an experienced manager with a deep knowledge of English football and the Championship.
The completion of back-to-back wins for the first time since August, following the victory a few miles away at Fulham under caretaker Nathan Jones five days earlier, was achieved via a mixture of dogged defending, threatening counter-attacking, a late set piece breakthrough and the touch of fortune every team and manager needs.
The result might have been the same as at Fulham but Brentford are a better side. The Championship table tells us that.
They are especially strong at home. Although beaten 4-2 by Ipswich previously, they had won six of the last eight matches in front of their own fans.
They attack with vigour, which leaves them vulnerable in open play when moves breaks down. Hughton set up his game plan accordingly.
He favours two formations, 4-2-3-1 which is how Albion started, and 4-4-1-1, which is what they switched to in winning the match in the final quarter.
The substitutions were telling. The introductions of Chris O'Grady for the industrious Craig Mackail-Smith and Greg Halford for Joao Teixeira provided more physicality in tiring conditions against a stamina-sapped defence.
Halford's versatility was emphasised again on his return on loan from Nottingham Forest for the remainder of the season.
He played on the left side of midfield, with skipper Gordon Greer returning from a six-match injury absence to marshall the defence.
The rapidity with which Halford's move back was sealed hints at another significant change with Hughton in charge, much smoother and in all probability more effective player recruitment.
He does not need the revamped recruitment department to tell him anything about any player in England. He knows for himself.
Also, following the resignation of Hyypia before Christmas and sacking of head of football David Burke 48 hours later, there is no longer likely to be a disconnection between what the manager wants and what the manager gets.
That happened previously as well under Oscar Garcia, an interested spectator on a visit from Spain.
O'Grady, who clinched Albion's place in tonight's fourth round draw in stoppage time following Lewis Dunk's 88th minute header from a set piece, was a victim of that disconnection.
He did not fit in under Hyypia. Hughton used him to good effect from the bench.
O'Grady almost scored with his first touch, a shot half-smothered by Brentford keeper Jack Bonham before rolling agonisingly just wide.
He should have scored before he did but hit a post. He sealed Albion's spot by latching onto a long ball from Adam Chicksen - deuptising for the injured Joe Bennett - turning inside his marker and finishing decisively.
The message from Hughton when he went on was simple. "He said you have got to work hard, put yourself about," O'Grady revealed. "And that's me.
"It's nice to be on the pitch and have multiple chances. I had three chances in that half-an-hour and I probably didn't have three shots in the four months I was here before. That's what strikers need.
"It's hard to show what you do when your strengths aren't being played to. It's a fresh sort of direction now and I'm happy to have been able to fit in.
"If the team play to my strengths and put the ball where I need it that's what I'll do and that's what I'll continue to do."
That depends on what Hughton has in mind for the January window. He will not be fooled by this result. The squad still needs urgent strengthening, particularly up front and in central midfield where combative experience is lacking.
Brentford manager Mark Warburton's view that it was "one-way traffic for an hour" had credibility. The dominated the first half and, on another more clinical day, centre-forward Andre Gray would have helped himself to a hat-trick.
Hughton observed: "We were able to ride our luck a little bit", while also pointing out: "We had to defend very well but we also managed to have some very good chances ourselves."
Solly March squandererd the best of them in amongst a flurry of early second half opportunities for Gray when he struck the outside of a post after a mistake by former Albion target Moses Odubajo.
March made amends with a free-kick two minutes from time cleverly back-headed in by Dunk, using the pace of the ball.
"That was probably our only decent delivery from set plays," Hughton said. "Our delivery had been very poor."
Dunk has been the stand-out performer this season and now has six goals to add to his armoury.
"I've seen quite a bit of Lewis over the years and I've seen him really develop as a player," said his new manager.
"He's become a very consistent performer and if you have got a centre-half that can score goals as well that's a real asset."
Resilience, a word likely to recur during Hughton's reign, was the key to Albion's win.
"We had a very young midfield that had to dig in and be really disciplined at times," he said. "I was delighted to see that from them.
"For me it's about trying to get that balance between the philosophy of play over the last four or five years and putting my stamp on the team. I don't want to change it dramatically.
"I want to tweak it but we have some good passers in the team and you want to be able to use them."
Maintaining momentum by stretching the unbeaten run to four matches under three different managers is not a bad way to start.
Original article
A place in the fourth round of the FA Cup for Albion for the sixth season in succession also offered a taste of what is to come under Chris Hughton, especially away from The Amex.
They were a team too easy to beat under Sami Hyypia. A naive 3-2 defeat at Griffin Park in the league in September was a good example.
They will be much harder to beat under Hughton, an experienced manager with a deep knowledge of English football and the Championship.
The completion of back-to-back wins for the first time since August, following the victory a few miles away at Fulham under caretaker Nathan Jones five days earlier, was achieved via a mixture of dogged defending, threatening counter-attacking, a late set piece breakthrough and the touch of fortune every team and manager needs.
The result might have been the same as at Fulham but Brentford are a better side. The Championship table tells us that.
They are especially strong at home. Although beaten 4-2 by Ipswich previously, they had won six of the last eight matches in front of their own fans.
They attack with vigour, which leaves them vulnerable in open play when moves breaks down. Hughton set up his game plan accordingly.
He favours two formations, 4-2-3-1 which is how Albion started, and 4-4-1-1, which is what they switched to in winning the match in the final quarter.
The substitutions were telling. The introductions of Chris O'Grady for the industrious Craig Mackail-Smith and Greg Halford for Joao Teixeira provided more physicality in tiring conditions against a stamina-sapped defence.
Halford's versatility was emphasised again on his return on loan from Nottingham Forest for the remainder of the season.
He played on the left side of midfield, with skipper Gordon Greer returning from a six-match injury absence to marshall the defence.
The rapidity with which Halford's move back was sealed hints at another significant change with Hughton in charge, much smoother and in all probability more effective player recruitment.
He does not need the revamped recruitment department to tell him anything about any player in England. He knows for himself.
Also, following the resignation of Hyypia before Christmas and sacking of head of football David Burke 48 hours later, there is no longer likely to be a disconnection between what the manager wants and what the manager gets.
That happened previously as well under Oscar Garcia, an interested spectator on a visit from Spain.
O'Grady, who clinched Albion's place in tonight's fourth round draw in stoppage time following Lewis Dunk's 88th minute header from a set piece, was a victim of that disconnection.
He did not fit in under Hyypia. Hughton used him to good effect from the bench.
O'Grady almost scored with his first touch, a shot half-smothered by Brentford keeper Jack Bonham before rolling agonisingly just wide.
He should have scored before he did but hit a post. He sealed Albion's spot by latching onto a long ball from Adam Chicksen - deuptising for the injured Joe Bennett - turning inside his marker and finishing decisively.
The message from Hughton when he went on was simple. "He said you have got to work hard, put yourself about," O'Grady revealed. "And that's me.
"It's nice to be on the pitch and have multiple chances. I had three chances in that half-an-hour and I probably didn't have three shots in the four months I was here before. That's what strikers need.
"It's hard to show what you do when your strengths aren't being played to. It's a fresh sort of direction now and I'm happy to have been able to fit in.
"If the team play to my strengths and put the ball where I need it that's what I'll do and that's what I'll continue to do."
That depends on what Hughton has in mind for the January window. He will not be fooled by this result. The squad still needs urgent strengthening, particularly up front and in central midfield where combative experience is lacking.
Brentford manager Mark Warburton's view that it was "one-way traffic for an hour" had credibility. The dominated the first half and, on another more clinical day, centre-forward Andre Gray would have helped himself to a hat-trick.
Hughton observed: "We were able to ride our luck a little bit", while also pointing out: "We had to defend very well but we also managed to have some very good chances ourselves."
Solly March squandererd the best of them in amongst a flurry of early second half opportunities for Gray when he struck the outside of a post after a mistake by former Albion target Moses Odubajo.
March made amends with a free-kick two minutes from time cleverly back-headed in by Dunk, using the pace of the ball.
"That was probably our only decent delivery from set plays," Hughton said. "Our delivery had been very poor."
Dunk has been the stand-out performer this season and now has six goals to add to his armoury.
"I've seen quite a bit of Lewis over the years and I've seen him really develop as a player," said his new manager.
"He's become a very consistent performer and if you have got a centre-half that can score goals as well that's a real asset."
Resilience, a word likely to recur during Hughton's reign, was the key to Albion's win.
"We had a very young midfield that had to dig in and be really disciplined at times," he said. "I was delighted to see that from them.
"For me it's about trying to get that balance between the philosophy of play over the last four or five years and putting my stamp on the team. I don't want to change it dramatically.
"I want to tweak it but we have some good passers in the team and you want to be able to use them."
Maintaining momentum by stretching the unbeaten run to four matches under three different managers is not a bad way to start.
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Original article