Bees' late-late show earns draw with unworthy United

An extraordinary game got a dramatic finish when substitute Mason Mount seemed to have stolen an unworthy win for Manchester United, before Kristoffer Ajer smashed a 98thminute equaliser to ensure Brentford took away a point.

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE

Brentford Ajer (90+9) 1
Manchester United Mount (90+6)  1

Hundreds of furious Brentford fans were streaming up the stairs and out into the night when Ivan Toney wriggled away from the sluggish substitutes Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro before jabbing the ball across the six-yard box for Ajer to fire home. It was their 31st shot, and finally Andre Onana was beaten. A 1-1 draw was the least Brentford deserved.

That warm fuzzy feeling that United felt at the end of their incredible FA Cup win over Liverpool two weeks ago dissipated in half an hour of domination by their hosts. By half-time Brentford had taken 15 shots, hit the post and the crossbar and United’s positivity was forgotten. By the end of 90 minutes, Brentford had taken 30 shots and it was astonishing that they hadn’t scored. They almost lost one of the most one-sided games you might ever see.

At the end of a week in which Erik ten Hag had had to bat away speculation about his future, this night did nothing to help his cause. This was not a strategy by United to soak up pressure, to coax Brentford into a place of false security before stealing the game. There were no rope-a-dope tactics here. This was an away team utterly overwhelmed, unable to cope and getting away with it through sheer luck, looking like relegation strugglers trying to survive.