Brighton 3 Brentford 3. The spoils shared in the battle between the two sides with an eye on Europe and perhaps, even, that fourth Champions League place.

Sadly, Bees fans’ were left on the wrong end of that most brutal of sucker punches. A 90th minute penalty awarded to the home team after referee Michael Oliver was advised to check his screen by VAR official Stuart Atwell (of course).

The subsequent decision he had no choice but to make saw star player David Raya beaten from the spot by Alexis Mac Allister.

The star player declared so soon? Well, yes. Whilst we normally leave that ‘reveal’ until the post-match debrief section has been completed, Raya was hands, gloves and everything else above any serious rival for this matchweek’s crown.

An afternoon in which Brighton had 33 shots (15 of which were on target) could have ended brutally had it not been for that one man last line of defence.

It is a decision so glaringly obvious – such was the incessant pressure from the home side – that your time would be better served in trying to find some belly laughs in an episode of ‘My Family’ than naming a genuine alternative.

That’s not to say Brentford played badly. Anything but.

Indeed, we took the lead three times and survived wave after wave of ‘backs to the wall pressure’ in the second half.

This one ended more with the feeling of having received, rather than delivered, the sort of late blow we’ve been doing for years. What is normally that blissful moment of Jota time on this occasion becoming a reminder of just how hard fought the business end of the Premier League table is. How tantalising a lure the prospect of European football can be.

Yet if the hosts had started this one on the front foot, it was Brentford who took the lead down the far end after ten minutes. Pontus Jansson, returned to the starting XI as part of a back five, hoisting it high and long to Rico. A throw in was won and Matthias Jensen played it in to the box from where the skipper’s precision run saw him get past Lewis Dunk to power the ball home for 1-0. Back of the net!!

Brentford ahead and the scene set as blows were traded. Goal followed goal followed goal. A long ball up from the Brighton ‘keeper found Mitoma. He player the perfect chip over Raya for the equaliser with Hickey left floundering in his wake.

Less than two minutes later, the lead retaken. Bryan played Toney through, the most delightful of touches to control it at speed and without even breaking stride the England international lashed it at, though and past Steele in nets for Brighton. 2-1 Bees.

Then it was level again with not even half an hour gone. Wellbeck’s header restoring parity after a cross over the box cleared Pontus and found the Brighton man unmarked.

The same player could have then given Brighton the lead but for the timely intervention of Ethan Pinnock and David Raya. Even after this, the goalkeeper pulling further stops out of the bag to keep the hosts at bay. Certainly this wasn’t one for the faint hearted. Half-time refreshment providing a timely opportunity to calm the nerves and take stock.

Yet if those late thrusts had been a warning of what was to come, nobody seemed to have handed the Brentford front line that script. Out of the second half traps flaying and Ivan Toney scythed by Pascal Gross. Bryan with the free kick and whilst Ethan Pinnock may have positioned himself much tighter than his usual back stick placing, all of a sudden he had broken clear, found space and stretched out a leg to steer Mbeumo’s cross home.

Boom. 3-2 up and the goal scored in front of the Bees fans. The lead restored. Again. Would we push on? Err, no. Instead, the siege began.

Forty minutes of one way traffic.The combination of defence and Raya doing everything to thwart attack after attack from a flock of seagulls for whom, I heard afterwards, every outfield player (at least, those that started for the hosts) had a minimum of two attempts at goal.

It had felt heart-in-mouth watching this one. A dam waiting to break. Yet to withstand that much pressure warrants its own mention. Hats off to the back five. Kudos, likewise, to the attacking intent of Brighton.

Eventually, Aaron Hickey was the one to drop his chips and the Seagulls were all over them. Mr. Attwell’s intervention seeing the penalty awarded for a handball that our wingback could do little to avoid. Raya, for once powerless to stop it. As the scoreboard ticked over to 90 minutes, the net eventually rippled.

Thankfully this the final time. One even later shout for a penalty box handball against the same player being turned down. Correctly in my opinion.

Thus it ended 3-3. The Bees leapfrogging Liverpool into 7th (seventh) and now six points behind fourth placed Tottenham. Brighton directly above us by virtue of superior goal difference. Victory for Brentford at Old Trafford on Wednesday could see the gap to the Champions League places shrink even further.

That’s for then. For now, we reach the main reason for being here. Namely, the season long quest to find our overall top performer aswell as the game by game top five. Whilst we have already shared the star player, those other four make for some interesting calls. Looking further afield, the neck and neck battle which has been going since matchweek 1 shows no signs of letting up.

Brentford Player Ratings from Matchweek 28 (vs Brighton)

1st (Star Player: 5 points) – David Raya
He was just magnificent. Incredible. Without him it could have been a bracketing.

Flash back to last season’s horror show at the Amex. Fernandez in goal with Raya injured and then look at this one. Team and individual performances that were as far removed from each other as it is possible to be.

How Brentford ‘official’ missed him from their ‘top four’ in the full time supporter vote on Twitter is a mystery to rank alongside how the chief commissioning editor of the BBC once said, “Yes, Mrs Brown. You can have a second series”. I read that his 11 saves is the first time a keeper has made more than 10 stops during a single Premier League match in two and a half years. What a stat!!

Regardless, there is no selection oversight on these pages. Once again his value to Brentford and his ever increasing price tag demonstrated by the bucketload. All the paper talk says he won’t be signing a new contract in order to focus on Champions League football. Carry on like this and who knows if we might just end up with a mutually beneficial arrangement at the end of the campaign?

2nd (4 points) – Ethan Pinnock
Any other day and he’d have topped the poll. Another goal for his tally with his approach to the ball exquisite in the subtlety of movement. ‘Ethan’s not in his wide position’ I said to Mrs B as Bryan prepared to swing it in. Then he was and the fans went nuts.

Yet it was, as ever, his defensive duties that really took the plaudits. If David was the final barrier, I counted multiple separate instances where Ethan’s timely intervention stopped the ball getting even that far.

Mitoma being played through early with the scores 0-0 set the tone for the game. Namely, Brighton on the front foot and Ethan Pinnock thwarting them. The challenge to break up that move was one made with surgical precision. Not for the first time on an afternoon where his full attention was needed for every second of the game. Thankfully for Brentford, it never wavered.

3rd (3 points) – Bryan Mbeumo
The king of the assists struck again. Twice. The first, his eye of the needle pass through to Ivan Toney. Oh, what a parternship these two make.

His second, that free kick delivered with radar like placement to pick out Ethan Pinnock from a penalty box jam packed full of players.

Both came at crucial times. Very much a case of cometh the hour, cometh the man. On another day he might even have found the net himself but alas it wasn’t to be.

Yet nobody could knock his effort or his running. On an afternoon where Brentford were over run in the midfield he looked like our most creative of outlets when taking the ball to the opposition.

4th (2 point) – Ivan Toney
The goal showed his predatory instinct. He won the free kick for our third. He was as crucial at he back as he was going forward, not for the first time this season.

It was an afternoon where it wasn’t just shots where Brighton dominated but possession, too. The final tally showed them to have had the ball for a staggering 72% of the game and, as such, any attempt at goal for the Bees was as scarce a commodity as they come.

Thankfully, we had an England international in the team to make the difference when the moment came.

5th (1 point) – Christian Norgaard
I was close to giving it to Pontus (his goal was a powerhouse of a header) but, for me, on an afternoon where Brentford were outplayed it could have been even worse had Christian not been there to break up play.

Time and again he looked to get in the way or make the challenge. I’m still not sure how he ended this game without seeing yellow, but counting back it felt as though there were a good three instances where referee Michael Oliver ‘had a word’.

Whilst Brighton flooded forward and took the game to the visitors, the likes of Ethan, David and Christian in securing the point (and almost the win) were as key contributors for Brentford as any of our attacking force.

Brentford Player Ratings – Top 5 Players Overall (after Matchweek 28)

All of which means that Ivan stretches his lead at the top over Ben Mee. Ethan Pinnock was the only other member of our top five to score points so gains ground on joint third Rico Henry and Mathias Jensen. David Raya’s star player performance sees him a single point outside of our top five as we head into our final ten games of the season.

They start at Old Trafford this Wednesday and the stakes couldn’t be higher with both Europe and our star player crown sure to go to the line.

1st – Ivan Toney (50 points)
2nd – Ben Mee (46 points)
t3rd – Rico Henry, Mathias Jensen (43 points)
5th – Ethan Pinnock (40 points)

Follow Nick on Twitter @NickBruzon
2022-23 Brentford Player Ratings – Matchweek 28 vs Nick Bruzon