The Robert Rowan First Team Debut Board has had three new names added to it following three debuts in August.

Ellery Balcombe, Michael Olakigbe and Ethan Brierley were all handed their first senior minutes at the club in Brentford’s penalty shootout win over Sky Bet League Two side Newport County.

The Bees went ahead at Rodney Parade through Mathias Jensen before the side from south Wales struck late to take the game to spot kicks. Brentford kept their cool in the shootout to set up a tie at home to Arsenal in the third round of the competition.

The players made their debut in the win over Newport

Both Ellery and Michael started the match with the former playing a key role in the shootout as he made two saves. Michael played 62 minutes for the Bees whilst young midfielder Ethan Brierley was a 78^th minute substitute.

The Robert Rowan First Team Debut Board commemorates our former technical director who sadly passed away in 2018. Robert is credited with being a key member of staff who set up the B team project. To remember him, every B team player who makes a debut for the first team has their name added to a board on site at the Robert Rowan Performance Centre.

The board now sits at 28 players who have come through the B team pathway and have featured for Brentford at first team level.

28 players have now made their debut after coming through the B team ranks

Ellery has been working with the Bees since the age of eight and was part of the academy set up before the club transitioned into the B team programme. After impressing under B team goalkeeper coach Jani Viander, Ellery then earned a first team promotion in 2018.

He has had a series of loan spells with the likes of Boreham Wood, Viborg, Doncaster Rovers and Crawley Town. He is also capped at youth international level for England and earlier this year he spent time with Bristol Rovers on loan.

Michael made his debut for the Bees having spent one season with Brentford B. He arrived at the club from Fulham and was part of their youth ranks as he worked his way up to the under-18 and under-21 sides.

Michael Olakigbe has had a positive start to the 2023/24 campaign

An impressive debut campaign with the Bees, which saw him net against teams such as AS Monaco and Manchester City’s U21s, then saw him return to Brentford this season to spend pre-season with the first team.

He then got his first senior minutes against Newport before going on to make his Premier League debut against AFC Bournemouth in September.

As for Ethan, who only arrived in west London earlier this summer from Rochdale, the debut represents a positive start to life with the Bees. He too headed to the USA for the pre-season tour and has been involved in other pre-season matches on home soil for the Bees.

Brierley joined the Bees from Rochdale earlier this summer

The B team midfielder, who was a regular for Rochdale last season in League Two, earned 12 minutes of game time at Newport and will be aiming to use the B team programme to continue his development as the season progresses.