The buzz of the play-offs got underway on Monday night, beginning with the Championship.
Bournemouth hosted Brentford at the Vitality Stadium, while Barnsley faced off against Swansea City.
Adding to the excitement was the news that fans would return to stadiums, as part of the Government’s roadmap and coronavirus restrictions being eased. Here, TIBS News reviews the first legs of both semi-finals…
Bournemouth 1-0 Brentford
The first of the two-legged semi-finals kicked off at 6pm on the south coast.
Brentford came in as the form team, with four wins from their last five games, and also had the advantage of having done the double over the Cherries in the regular league season.
In contrast Bournemouth were in the worst form of all four play-off sides – having lost their final three league games.
Bournemouth started strongly and had chances through Jefferson Lerma, who narrowly volleyed over David Raya’s goal, before Dominic Solanke’s downward header came off the post.
Ten minutes after the restart, the hosts found the breakthrough that had been coming.
Pontus Jansson was caught out of position as he lost the ball and David Brooks played a superb ball through to Arnaut Danjuma to slot into the bottom corner.
Thomas Frank reacted instantly to going behind, with a triple substitution, in the hope of grabbing an equaliser.
The Bees really should have been level too and it was one of the three substitutes in Bryan Mbeumo who was kicking himself after poking wide from just six yards out with an empty net to aim at.
Brentford’s only shot on target of the game came through Emiliano Marcondes who forced Asmir Begovic into making a smart save down low.
The Cherries could have doubled their lead if Danjuma’s free-kick was not superbly kept out by Raya.
Nevertheless, Bournemouth held on for the 1-0 victory to take to the second leg at Brentford on Saturday.
Brentford will take confidence from the fact they were in the exact same position last season after losing the play-off first leg 1-0 to Swansea, before turning it around in the second leg.
Barnsley 0-1 Swansea
The other semi-final kicked off at 8:15pm in the Oakwell night sky.
Barnsley were in the slightly better form, having won three of their last five – with a draw and a defeat to go with it.
Swansea had just the one win from their last five, against a Derby County side who narrowly avoided relegation on the final day.
Right from the get-go fans of The Tykes were roaring their side on and doing all they could to get behind their team.
A cagey first half which saw few chances for either side was edged out on 39 minutes by a moment of magic from Swansea’s Andre Ayew.
The Ghanaian’ superb individual play was capped off after he curled an exquisite shot past Brad Collins in goal, who had no chance.
The passionate home crowd upped their game in the second half and this had an effect on the hosts as they created plenty of chances and were left bitterly frustrated that they did not take one.
Some smart work from Freddie Woodman saw Carlton Morris and Callum Brittain both denied, before Cauley Woodrow forced him into another superb stop.
Alex Mowatt also saw a long-range strike deflect narrowly wide of the target before the Tykes’ best chance came deep into injury time at the end of the game.
A corner was sent in, Woodrow flicked the ball onto Morris who saw his effort smack against the crossbar before it was dealt with by Swansea.
The full-time whistle came to the relief of the visitors but frustration of the hosts.
The Swans will take a slender advantage back to south Wales for the second leg on Saturday, with the tie far from over.
By Josh Mann
