EPL

Manchester United 2-1 Brentford: Hojlund completes turnaround to ease pressure on Ten Hag

By Sports Desk October 19, 2024

Manchester United launched a second-half fightback to ease the pressure on manager Erik ten Hag with an important 2-1 victory over Brentford.

United needed two stoppage-time goals to beat the Bees on their last visit to Old Trafford in October 2023, and their powers of recovery were required again on Saturday.

Ethan Pinnock headed Brentford into the lead five minutes into first-half stoppage time, nodding Mikkel Damsgaard's corner home after Matthijs de Ligt was forced off temporarily due to a head injury.

However, two moments of individual class turned the game around in the second half.

Alejandro Garnacho levelled within two minutes of the restart when he volleyed in from Marcus Rashford's cross.

United upped the ante from there, and the pressure paid off shortly after the hour mark as Rasmus Hojlund latched onto Bruno Fernandes' backheel before coolly lobbing Mark Flekken.

Data Debrief: Brentford surrender another lead

Pinnock gave Brentford the lead with his eighth Premier League goal, while he also netted in successive games for the first time.

Since Brentford's first match in the competition in 2021-22, Gabriel Magalhaes (14) is the only defender to score more times in the English top flight.

However, United responded within 89 seconds of the restart, with Garnacho's goal the quickest netted after half-time in the Premier League by the Red Devils since October 2022 (Fred, 76 seconds against Tottenham).

After dropping the most points from winning positions in the Premier League last season (30), Brentford have already now dropped the most in the division after leading this term (11).

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    Presentation College closed the gap between them and leaders St. Benedict’s College in the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) to four points with a 2-0 win over San Juan North Secondary on Saturday.

    A second half double from Vaughn Clement gave Presentation the win and moved them to 28 points from 11 games with a game in hand on the leaders.

    Clement’s goals came in the 56th and 89th minutes.

    Leaders St. Benedict’s dropped points after being held to a 1-1 draw by Signal Hill Secondary. The prolific Derrel Garcia gave St. Benedict’s the lead in the 55th minute before Kyle James equalized for Signal Hill 20 minutes from full time.

    Defending champions Fatima College were the biggest winners of the day, 5-1 over East Mucurapo Secondary.

    Liam Gooding (41’) and Michael Chaves (43’) scored in quick succession to give Fatima a 2-0 lead going into the halftime interval before Keysan Haynes gave East Mucurapo life in the 60th minute to make it 2-1.

    That hope was quickly dashed as Seth Hadeed (64’) made it 3-1 before Josiah Gobin (74’, 86’) completed the scoring. Fatima remain third in the standings with 26 points from their 12 outings.

    Other results on Saturday:

    Arima North Secondary 2-0 St. Mary’s College

    Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High School 3-2 Malick Secondary

    Queen’s Royal College 4-1 Trinity College East

    Speyside Secondary 0-1 St. Anthony’s College

    St. Augustine Secondary 3-1 Naparima College

  • Calabar, Camperdown play out 1-1 stalemate to end preliminary round Calabar, Camperdown play out 1-1 stalemate to end preliminary round

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    STATHS 5, Haile Selassie 0

    Mona 1, Charlie Smith 0

    Vauxhall 6, Kingston Technical 2

    Jamaica College 7, Bridgeport 1

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