Most brutal sting of all

Photo: Pictures: ALAN HOWARTH

WING RAID . . . Mike Petrasso shows determination to launch an Athletic attack.

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Brentford 1, Oldham 0

A RUEFUL smile didn’t prevent Lee Johnson cutting a forlorn figure as he wandered over to conduct the post-match ceremonies, after a defeat which was as tough to digest as any so far this season.

It was hard to argue with his praise of his men: “We were fantastic,” were the first words from the manager, who kept a lid on his feelings over an unimpressive refereeing performance from Carl Berry.

The agonising winning goal - 66 seconds into added time at the end of an absorbing contest - was poor from a defensive standpoint.

Goalkeeper Mark Oxley remained rooted to his line when he may have tried to collect the deep cross. The fact that Sam Saunders had so much time to measure his left-footed delivery was also disappointing.

But for Johnson, Jonathan Douglas was climbing all over the back of Genseric Kusunga as he planted a close-range header past Oxley to send the home support into raptures and the Bees – under Mark Warburton for the first time – up to third in the league.

Officiating inadequacies aside, Athletic pressed, ran hard all afternoon and broke forward with purpose. A point was the least they deserved.

Some had seen fit to write this one off, but from his team it was clear Johnson was planning to take the game to the opposition.

Without ever really puncturing enough holes in the Brentford back line, a strong Athletic line-up proved the better of the two on show at Griffin Park. Half-chances arrived for the visitors and vanished again as quickly through hesitancy and poor decision-making.

Against a side who had previously won five in a row at home, Athletic’s prime opportunity came in the 28th minute. Carl Winchester, an early substitute for out-of-sorts David Mellor, was the beneficiary of a midfield ricochet and as he carried the ball into the opposition half, Athletic had five players running at one back-tracking defender.

Sadly, Winchester couldn’t decide which of his plentiful options to use, held on too long and hit a poor effort which was easily blocked.

You get the feeling that if the roles had been reversed, Brentford would have put away the golden chance – or at the very least worked the goalkeeper.

Athletic’s early substitution, which casts a question mark over Mellor - who seems to struggle in some away games - gave new impetus to the team.

After Will Grigg had pulled a shot narrowly wide on a rare occasion Brentford got behind Athletic, Mike Petrasso almost put Athletic a goal up two minutes before half-time.

After his first effort was blocked, the ball came back and he snatched at a left-footed shot which travelled a couple of feet wide of the far post.

For all Athletic’s good approach play, Petrasso’s shot was as close as they came.

Johnson’s side was robust, though, with Jonathan Grounds and Korey Smith impressive.

As the game wore on, the mask of concentration slipped at a crucial moment.

Brentford may have been fortunate but they were also the more clinical. Athletic will be hurting, but for all their good work on and off the ball, must learn to be more incisive in the final third.