A look at Saints V Brentford games over the years.

Up until last season Saints hadnt met the Bee's in 50 years in the league although they had met a couple of times being drawn together in the cups.

The first competitive game between the two clubs was 99 years ago when Brentford joined Saints in the Southern league and vsited the Dell to be beaten 1-0 with the return match finishing 1-1, at the time Saints were one of the top sides in the Southern League indeed the country reaching the FA Cup Final in that season, for the next few years Saints were at the top of the division whilst Brentford languished around the bottom most years although by 1906/07 as Saints fortunes declined Brentford finished above us by one place, however the balance was restored and apart from a couple of seasons it was usually Saints near the top and Brentford mid table at best

In 1920/21 Saints along with most of the Southern league including Brentford joined the Football League and formed Division 3, in that first league season for both clubs Saints finished second, but with the only the Champions being promoted this was not good enough to go up and Brentford finished second from bottom, the first ever Football league meeting having come on 23rd october when Saints won 3-0 at the Dell then a week later a 1-1 draw at Griffin Park, but with Saints five points behind Champions Crystal Palace, it made no difference.

In 21/22 Division 3 was expanded again, now being organised on a regional basis, North & South, Brentford took the honours in this season, first drawing 0-0 at the Dell and followed that up a fortnight later by beating us 1-0, Saints would finish top on goal average from Plymouth and be promoted to division 2, the Bee's would also fare better, finishing 9th.

Our paths would not cross again till 33/34 when Brentford had gained promotion to Div 2, they were now on the up and firstly beat us 2-0 at Griffin Park and in the return got a scoreless draw at the Dell, they finished 4th only 1 point off promotion whilst we languished in the bottom hhalf of the table.

The following season saw brentford champions and promoted to the top flight whilst we finished 4th from bottom, they did the double on us 1-0 and then 3-2 at the Dell.

The Bee's then enjoyed their best period in their history, playing in the top flight up until the war, however in the second season after the resumption of League football they rejoined us in Div 2 in 47/48, we by now were on the ascent and they in decline and we both remained in Div 2 till 52/53 when we were relegated, however the following year they went down too and we resumed hostilities in Div 3 South till 59/60 season when Saints went up as Champions, a 2-2 draw in London being followed by a 2-0 home win.

This would be the last time we would meet competitively for 38 years when in 97/98 season we were drawn together in the League cup in a two legged 2nd round match, the first game saw Saints win 3-1 at the Dell with goals from Ken Monkou, Kevin Davies & Micky Evans scoring for Saints in front of 8,004, in the return only 3,957 turned up to watch Le Tiss score both in a 2-0 win to ensure Saints werent one of the premier league scalps.

In 2004/05 Saints were battling relegation from the Premiership and Brentford at home in the 5th round of the cup looked an easy tie, however after Henri Camara's two goals had looked to put us through, Brentford battled back to force a draw in front of 24,741.

The replay at Griffin Park was just as tense with Brentford taking a 4th minute lead, but Saints hit back with Peter Crouch on 11 minutes, in the second half Saints took the lead through Kevin Phillips but Brentford kept battling away and an equaliser looked on the cards, however Crouch struck again on 90 to make the game safe and send the 3,000 Saints fans in the 11,720 crowd home happy.

Last season saw the first league meetings for over 50 years, first at SMS Dan Harding gave Saints a 73rd minute lead which looked to have set Saints on the way to their first League victory of the season till Taylor scored with ten minutes to go.

In January's return Lloyd James scored a cracking goal, but it was the same score at Griffin Park as 1,800 Saints fans in the sold out away section plus smatterings in the main stand made up almost a third of the total crowd of 6,501 with 6,000 empty seats.

The first game of this season ended with the Bee's winning 2-0, the first an horrendous error from Kelvin Davis putting us on the back foot and the scond on 28 minutes meaning that we were always chasing the game and although they had twice the number of chances as the visitors it was a familiar story as Saints conceded 2 goals from only 5 Brentford shots on target, but couldnt score despite having 8 on target themselves.

So Saints history against the Bee's (not including Southern League) is

Games played in League 35 --     Saints wins 12, Draws 11 Brentford wins 12 

Games played in FA Cup 2 --       Saints wins 1 Draws 1 Brenford Wins 0

Games played in League Cup 2 -- Saints wins 2, Draws 0, Brentford wins 0 

Photo: Action Images

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