An injury-time winner saw Brentford end their second competitive fixture of the season with a 2-1 loss against Stevenage on Saturday morning at Shephalbury Sports Academy.

After finding themselves a goal behind early on in the second half, Brentford thought they had snatched a late equaliser following a headed goal by a trialist only for Stevenage to claim all three points with a strike six minutes into injury time.

The young Bees travelled to a Stevenage side who were high in confidence following their 5-1 win over Cambridge United U18s on the opening day of the season.

Lydia Bedford made five changes to the team which was narrowly beaten by Sutton United last weekend with Reggie Rose, Yaw Agyei, Kerron Samuels, Emeka Peters and Brentford B’s Byron Wilson all making the starting line-up.

The opening half-hour saw Brentford enjoy the majority of possession on a surface which allowed the side to play a possession-based style of football.

Right-back, Freddie Taylor, nearly gave the visitors an early lead after a deep cross from Remy Bennison found the 16-year-old whose strike from just inside the box forced a smart save from the Stevenage keeper.

Peters who lead the line for Brentford, was at the forefront of the side's press in the opening half with Stevenage resorting to the long ball as they struggled to work through the thirds due to the solid organisation of the Bees.

Left to right: Andre Grey, Beaux Booth, Ollie Shield, Kaya Halil

The striker had an opportunity to put Brentford ahead on 38 minutes when the away side won possession deep into the Stevenage half.

Bennison latched onto the ball and played a disguised pass into Peters, but the number nine’s shot which was goal bound was blocked well by Ellis Bates.

The hosts began the second half the better of the two sides and got themselves ahead with their first real chance of the game 10 minutes after the interval following a strike from Lenny Brown.

The young Bees nearly found an instant equaliser when Wilson got on the end of an in-swinging corner from Taylor. But the defenders headed effort deflected off the back of a Stevenage defender before going just over the bar.

Brentford played some brilliant football in spells, as the side who welcomed 13 new additions in the summer seemed to display an understanding with each other in what was just their second competitive match of the season.

The away side continued to put Stevenage under pressure and was rewarded for their hard work on 88 minutes with a late leveller.

Wilson who proved to be an aerial threat for the Bees, met another corner, this time the ball fell into the path of a trialist who showed brilliant desire to powerfully head the ball into the back of the net.

With the game looking certain to end in a draw Stevenage latched onto a Brentford mistake on 96 minutes and a deflected shot from Kai Pitts-Lewis dribbled into the back of the net ending what was a strong Brentford performance in an unfortunate manner.

Brentford U18s: Rose, Taylor (King, 73’), Grey, Agyei (Trialist, 60’), Wilson, Samuels, Shield, Halil, Peters (Trialist, 65’), Booth (Trialist, 73’), Bennison (Djoro, 45’)

Stevenage U18s: Mitchell, Tekasala, Henry (Sacik, 67’), Skyers, Buckmaster, Bates, Mutanga (O’keefe, 45’), Hicks, Evans, Alexandrou (Pitts-Lewis, 69’), Reeve (Brown, 45’)

Lydia Bedford praises her side

Despite a disappointing ending to the match, head coach Lydia Bedford was left proud of her team’s efforts and feels she saw plenty of improvement in what was a good performance from the young side.

She said: “I really enjoyed the game, I think that was the best game I’ve been involved in since my arrival. In the first half, we showed some great composure on the ball and dominated the play, we worked hard this week during training on our build-up patterns and to see the lads take that and put it on the pitch was great.”

With Brentford seeing a lot of the ball for large spells of the match, Bedford went on to explain how she feels it will only be a matter of time before her side becomes more prolific in the final third.

Bedford feels her side are making positive steps

“We have nailed down the possession style of football that we want to play but I think it’s now just about connecting the final piece to the puzzle, said Bedford.”

“I think this is something that will improve the more time myself and the coaching staff get to spend with the team. There were periods in the second half where we showed composure in the top half of the pitch which led to our goal with nice build-up play into Ollie who won us the corner.”

In what was just her third game in charge of the U18s side, Bedford says she has been enjoying her time as head coach and looks forward to spending more time with the players on the training pitch.

She continued: “It’s been great to see the players learning, that’s the best I’ve seen the team play and as a coach, there is nothing more pleasing than that. It’s now just about building on our performances and translating our hard work into positive results but as a whole, I’ve been happy and can’t wait to continue with the team.”