Bournemouth and Brentford played out a goalless draw in their first top-flight meeting at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday as both teams endured a frustrating afternoon in the Premier League with few clear-cut chances.
The hosts had a penalty appeal turned down in the 22nd minute after Kristoffer Ajer’s sliding challenge on Jordan Zemura, with referee Thomas Bramall sticking with his original decision after referring to the pitchside monitor. Bournemouth have now failed to score in their last three home games but stretched their unbeaten run to four matches under interim manager Gary O’Neill.
“Once the referee gets sent to review it on camera, I thought we were going to get it. It was a tough call, to be honest,” O’Neill said of the penalty decision. “It wasn’t the best performance but it’s another clean sheet against a good side. We took a point but I’m a bit disappointed.”
Bournemouth goalkeeper Neto parried Mikkel Damsgaard’s effort to safety in the opening minutes in what proved to be the best chance of a scrappy and disjointed first half where Brentford had better attempts but no luck in front of goal. Shannon Baptiste played a dinked pass into the path of Ivan Toney, who dragged his shot wide, while Ajer met Damsgaard’s looped cross but steered his header onto the roof of the net in the closing stages before the break.
Toney had the best opportunity of the contest but could only fire over the crossbar at close range from Josh Dasilva’s cushioned pass in the 75th minute, before seeing his free kick flick off the wall five minutes later. In a lively end to an otherwise dull clash on the south coast, Bournemouth had another penalty appeal turned down late in the game after the ball appeared to strike Brentford midfielder Mathias Jensen’s hand from a corner.
Bournemouth remained 12th in the league on nine points, while Brentford slipped to 10th with 10 points after eight games. “I liked our mentality. I liked our organization and our endeavor,” O’Neill said. “I was disappointed with certain moments and we need to be better with the ball. We had opportunities to hurt them but then we had sloppy turnovers.
“In every other game, we posed a threat. Scoring goals is the toughest part and there are reasons today why we didn’t threaten as much as we should have.”
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