The wait for the new season is almost over with the 2016/17 English Football League kicking-off in a little more than 48 hours time. The opening day of the season is a long-awaited day for both fans and players alike, and in the build-up to our curtain raiser against Huddersfield Town, here are six opening day matches which didn’t disappoint.
1932/33 Queens Park Rangers 2 Brentford 3
The Bees, under the management of Harry Curtis, laid down a marker for the rest of the Division Three South with victory over their near neighbours in front of nearly 25,000 at The White City Stadium. Jack Holliday scored twice on his debut, the first of his record 38 league goals that season, and Arthur Crompton got the other as Brentford began their title-winning season with a win.
1954/55 Southampton 6 Brentford 4
This was a match that broke, and still holds, a number of records for both Brentford and Southampton. The Saints raced into a 6-1 half-time lead which included scoring after 15 seconds, to this day their fastest ever goal, before The Bees regained some pride thanks to second-half strikes from Jimmy Robertson, Frank Dudley, and George Stobbart. The match is one of only nine league games in Brentford history to have seen ten goals scored, and one of only three where Brentford have scored four and lost.
1965/66 Brentford 6 Queens Park Rangers 1
Even if the 1965/66 season went down as one to forget the opening day of the season couldn’t have gone much better for The Bees as more than 15,000 at Griffin Park saw the demolition of Rangers. Mickey Block scored a hat-trick with John Fielding, Joe Bonsor, and Ian Lawther getting the others.
1991/92 Brentford 4 Leyton Orient 3
Dean Holdsworth gave an early warning to the rest of Division Three as he netted a hat-trick, the first on the opening day in 36 years, as West beat East in this London derby. Holdsworth twice gave The Bees the lead before Terry Evans scored the decisive goal late on as Phil Holder’s side secured a ninth straight win over Orient and took their first step towards lifting the Division Three title in May.
1994/95 Plymouth Argyle 1 Brentford 5
Nicky Forster netted twice on his debut as Brentford picked up their biggest ever away win on the opening day of the season. Plymouth had narrowly missed out on promotion the season before but they were put to the sword by David Webb’s side. The hosts took the lead through Peter Swan but Paul Smith, Forster and Paul Stevenson netted before the break to put The Bees in command. Rob Taylor and Forster then scored after the break to complete the rout.
2015/16 Brentford 2 Ipswich Town 2
Opening day draws don’t come much more dramatic than this as The Bees netted twice in injury time to salvage a point against The Tractor Boys. Goals from Kevin Bru and Ryan Fraser either side of the break looked like they were sending the visitors back down the A12 with the points. However Andre Gray pulled one back and then, in the dying seconds, James Tarkowski headed home after a goalmouth scramble to claim a point.
Will there be the same drama again this season when we kick-off our season against Huddersfield on Saturday or when we face Ipswich Town at Griffin Park next week. Find out by getting your tickets for the match here.