Brentford 4 Leicester 1

Image: You’ll believe a man can fly: Ethan Pinnock heads into space

Kevin’s super hat-trick

Brentford 4, Leicester City 1; 30.11.24

It was a long time coming, but Kevin Schade’s trio of goals was worth waiting for. Coach Thomas Frank might have been by frustrated by the initial injury that restricted the winger’s appearances for much of the year, yet the manner of his hat-trick was nicely timed, being exactly a week after his twenty-fourth birthday. Nice job, Kevin!

Leicester, experiencing a stormy first half to the season, found the German a handful from the start. He was not alone: the Bees looked sharp from the opening whistle and what with skipper Christian Nørgaard having been let out of jail, so to speak, following a ludicrous sending off during the previous match away at Everton, the starting eleven promised much.

Mikkel Damsgaard was especially on song – when hasn’t he been since taking on the duties of playmaker-in-chief? – and everything suggested another grand afternoon at the Gtech Community stadium.

Only this being Brentford, Leicester managed to take the lead after 21 minutes in what was, from memory, their first foray into the home half.

Image: Kevin Schade on his way to a hat trick

Jamie Vardy, still a frequent danger despite approaching 38, provided the pass that enabled Facundo Buonanotte to beat Mark Flekken, whereupon the keeper waved farewell to yet another clean sheet in a series of largely goal-laden victories.

The delighted visiting fans were soon celebrating with choruses of ‘We’re winning away – how crap you must be’ (or words to that effect). But only until the team as a whole and Schade in particular retaliated, with Kevin serving Yoane Wissa with a cross that enabled the striker to tap the ball past keeper Mads Hermansen. (The goal saw Wissa draw level with Bryan Mbeumo, with eight each in the list of the season’s scorers.)

But it was to be Schade’s day. Four minutes later he seized on Mbeumo’s slightly diverted cross to beat Hermansen once more, and then do it again in the time added at the end of the half, when he chipped neatly another of Damsgaard’s collection of penetrating balls that left the defence floundering.

Image:  Wissa whizzes past Coady

After the interval the City appeared to wake up and actually challenge the home defence, although not before Wissa unleashed a shot that struck Hermansen in the midriff – he wasn’t having the best of days – and then, almost on the hour, Schade completed his hat-trick.

This time it was Nathan Collins – another excellent performance from him, possibly hoping to eradicate the misery of the Irish Republic’s 5-0 thumping at the hands of England in the international break – who provided the assist.

Coach Frank, as is his want, fed players from the bench once the game was safe, including forward Igor Thiago, whose injury in a pre-season friendly had inhibited his presence upfront. A big fellow who promises more in the weeks to come, he wears the number 9 shirt, once in the possession of England cap Ivan Toney.

I reminded my mate Charlie of the sterling work the striker had contributed to Brentford before his move to the Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli.

‘Ivan who’, said Charlie.

Image: High 4: Thomas Frank anticipates the score

The Bees’ victorious lap of the pitch was wholly deserved, especially with the three points won seeing them safely into the top half of the Premier League table. Anyone feeling sorry for Leicester, last seen in Brentford boarding a coach bound for the Midlands, need only to take note of their next result – a 3-1 win over West Ham United.

As for Schade, he will hopefully be on the next rung of the ladder in a team that has the potential to continue climbing.

Brentford (4-2-3-1): Flekken; Lewis-Potter, Pinnock, Collins, Van den Berg (Roerslev 83); Jensen (Janelt 42), Nørgaard (Yarmoliuk 70); Schade (Thiago 70), Damsgaard (Fabio Carvalho 70), Mbeumo; Wissa.

Leicester (3-4-2-1): Hermansen; Okolij (Vestergaard 35), Coady, Faes; Thomas, Ndidi, Justin, Southmare (Skipp 64); Buonanotte (Mavididi 64), Ayew (De Cordova-Reid 80); Vardy (Daka 64).

Bill Hagerty is a contributing editor to the Bees United website. Photographs by Liz Vercoe.

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