Brentford B continued their pre-season work with a fixture against Sky Bet League One side Bristol Rovers on Saturday afternoon at Imber Court.

The young Bees, who came up against a Bristol side full of experience, ended up on the end of a 1-0 defeat following a first half penalty from Scott Sinclair.

It was a game where the B team had to be patient against their more senior opposition and for large parts they reduced their opponents to few chances and created some positive moments in both halves of the game but it was Joey Barton’s side who came out on top in the pre-season encounter.

Having seen a young Brentford XI draw with Slough Town on Friday night, Neil MacFarlane and his staff were back in the dugout on Saturday as they took charge of a B team side which featured many of the players who were involved in the first team’s pre-season match with Boreham Wood earlier in the week.

There were starts for Matthew Cox and Myles Peart-Harris from the first team whilst the B team lined up with a back three including two new faces in Ji-soo Kim and Erion Zabeli alongside Tristan Crama. Val Adedokun and Charlie Farr were deployed as wing backs whilst another new player in Ethan Brierley lined up in midfield.

Tony Yogane, Aaron Pressley and Nathan Young-Coombes were also in from the start.

Rovers threatened a few times early in the game with Aaron Collins seeing his effort well blocked by Farr before the B team defender was called into action again as he prevented a dangerous Sinclair cross from causing havoc in the area with a strong block.

Jevani Brown was next to try his luck when Rovers countered after a spell of Brentford possession. The forward player drove towards goal before unleashing a powerful drive with his left foot which Cox was equal to.

The Bees then began to settle and they recognised the aerial presence of Pressley on more than one occasion with a good opportunity falling just before half hour mark.

Peart-Harris picked up the ball on the right before floating a cross to the head of the Brentford striker. He managed the bring the ball down well and work some space just inside the box but his side footed effort was well blocked before it could test the Rovers keeper.

The two combined again shortly after and this time it stemmed from the left. Another pinpoint cross saw Pressley go to head towards goal first time but for a vital interception from the defender as the ball looped on top of the net.

That preceded Bristol’s best chance of the match so far as a defensive lapse saw Brown pick the ball up around 25-yards out with some space to run in to. He opted to slot the ball into the path of Collins who, from a tight angle, struck powerfully forcing a smart save from Cox with his legs.

Just a minute before the break Bristol were awarded a penalty following a foul by Val Adedokun after a cross into the box. Sinclair then stepped up to slot the ball into the bottom right corner to make it 1-0.

As expected in pre-season, both sides made lots of changes on 65 minutes with four trialists entering play, alongside the likes of Beaux Booth, Chanse Headman, Max Dickov and Angel Waruih.

The match struggled for rhythm at times with half chances traded between the sides. On 75 minutes one of the trialists almost levelled things in style when a ball into the box was cleared and the player hit a first time volley powerfully towards the bottom corner which saw the keeper pull off a brilliant save meaning Rovers claimed the win.

Brentford: Cox, Farr, Adedokun, Zabeli, Crama, Kim (McManus, 45), Brierley, Pressley, Young-Coombes, Yogane, Peart-Harris

Brentford (from 65 minutes): Cox, Crama (Wilson, 77) McManus, Booth, Trialist, Waruih, Dickov, Headman, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist

Bristol Rovers: Belshaw, Connolly, Wilson, Finley, Sinclair, Ward, Collins, Thomas, Brown, Friend, Hoole

Subs: Jones, Marquis, Trialist, Greenslade, Loft, Lawrence, Shaw, Evans, White, Lynden, Ward, Larvin

Yogane pleased to build more minutes

Tony Yogane was delighted to build more minutes in another pre-season fixture having also been involved with the first team earlier this week.

The 17-year-old, who is going into his second season with the B team, feels he’s in a good place. The youngster said: “I feel good, I feel fit. As another game goes by, you want to play more and more and more and just get into the rhythm of things. You're getting stuff out your system like sloppy passes but I feel good and happy right now.

“When you're playing against older players, the more physical ones. You know they're trying to get the most out of it, because it's pre-season, and everyone's trying to get the most out of it.

“I'm very excited and confident and I know the reason why I'm confident, because of the coaches. So it just gives me the ability to push on more and work harder and try and impress everyone.”