Brentford B faced the Ukraine national team in a behind closed doors fixture on Thursday evening at the Cherry Red Records Stadium. Ukraine ran out 2-0 winners with goals from Oleksandr Svatok and Heorhii Sudakov in what was an impressive learning experience for the young Bees.

The Ukrainian national team have been training at the Robert Rowan Performance Centre this week ahead of their European Championship Qualifier with England at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. As part of their preparations, they faced Neil MacFarlane’s B team at the home of AFC Wimbledon.

It was a memorable occasion for our young Bees

The B team, who were in action against Hendon FC earlier this week, lined up with first team players Pontus Jansson and Josh Dasilva in the starting XI, whilst there were also returns for Alex Gilbert and Ryan Trevitt as the side had a fantastic opportunity to test themselves against high calibre opposition.

The match started with Ukraine seeing a lot of the ball in the early stages with the Brentford press proving quite effective with the energy of the likes of Gilbert, Michael Olakigbe and Kyreece Lisbie putting the opponents under pressure as they made it hard for Ukraine to play through them.

There was an early opportunity for Mykhailo Mudryk on 16 minutes as he used his pace to dart behind the Brentford back line. After being forced wide he was unable to find the head of Roman Yaremchuk as his cross was overhit.

On 20 minutes the Bees had a chance of their own to get the ball into the box as Gilbert’s effort was cleared away before the resulting corner from the Brentford man almost found the head of Jansson but for Andrii Lunin who punched clear.

Three minutes later the game had its first goal and it came in disappointing circumstances for the Bees as Ruslan Malinovskyi’s whipped in corner found Svatok who headed home with precision past Ben Winterbottom.

Brentford’s best chance so far in the half then came five minutes after going behind and it came through excellent play out on the left from Olakigbe. The 18-year-old used his speed to beat his man out wide before he crossed with his left foot into the path of Gilbert. The forward controlled with his knee before getting his shot away but it bounced up kindly for the keeper to claim.

Pontus Jansson captained the side

A Yaremchuk effort then followed shortly after as he managed to beat the offside trap before attempting to lob Winterbottom but his effort ended up on top of the Brentford net and that preceded another set piece attempt for the Bees on the half hour mark. Gilbert’s low free-kick found Trevitt who controlled into the path of Jansson, whose improvised flick with his right heel almost found the onrushing Brentford attack but for another clearance.

It almost became 2-0 to Ukraine on 36 minutes when Mudryk delivered a dangerous ball into the box from a central free-kick. The effort found the head of Tristan Crama who looked to clear and, thankfully for the Bees, his effort came back off of the Brentford post as the sides went in at the break with Ukraine a goal to the good.

Ukraine made 10 changes at the break as they were able to give their players minutes ahead of Sunday’s international fixture. Chances fell 10 minutes after the restart with Vitalii Buialskyi forcing Crama into a smart block before Artem Dovbik saw his low effort go just wide of the post. On 65 minutes they were able to double their lead when Sudakov picked up a loose ball in the middle before he drove forwards and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the bottom left-hand corner.

Winterbottom then had to be at his best on 69 minutes as he blocked a powerful drive from close range following a Ukraine set piece before he turned a Viktor Tsyganov effort round the post as the match finished 2-0 to Ukraine in what was a brilliant learning experience for the B team.

Brentford B: Winterbottom, Wilson, Adedokun, Crama, Olakigbe (Yogane, 79) Trevitt, Gilbert, Dasilva, Lisbie (Holland, 51), Jansson, Syla (Young-Coombes, 67)

Subs: Rose, Wilcox, Dickov, Beckham, Bennett, Waruih, McManus,

Ukraine first half: Lunin, Svatok, Stepanenko, Mudryk, Malinovskyi, Yaremchuk, Buialskyi, Mykolenko, Bondarenko, Karavaiev, Matvienko

Ukraine second half: Shevchenko, Sobol, Popov, Konoplianka, Dovbik, Miroshnichenko, Buialskyi, Tsygankov, Pikhalyonok, Sarapii, Sudakov