Enzo Le Fée's Redemption: Sunderland vs Brentford Match Review
Enzo Le Fée buried the penalty, then let the noise wash over him. Same end, same stadium, same player. Very different outcome.
Last season at the Gtech Community Stadium he tried a panenka and ended up a punchline. This time, with eight minutes left and Sunderland staring at defeat, he went for power and precision. The ball went one way, Caoimhin Kelleher the other. A 1-1 draw salvaged, a personal ghost laid to rest.
Sunderland dominate, VAR intervenes
Regis Le Bris will leave west London wondering how his Sunderland side were not out of sight by half-time.
They flew out of the blocks. After just eight minutes, Dan Ballard swept a composed finish into the bottom corner and wheeled away in celebration. It looked a fitting reward for a bold, front-foot start. Then came the long, suffocating wait.
VAR lines, replays, more lines. Eventually, the decision: no goal. Kevin Danso, making his debut, had strayed offside and was judged to have blocked Kelleher’s view. Sunderland’s lead vanished on a screen, not a pitch.
Brentford were already reeling from another setback. Captain Nathan Collins had been forced off inside 20 minutes after a clash with Noah Sadiki, leaving Keith Andrews to rip up his defensive plan early. Without their leader, Brentford looked rattled.
Sunderland sensed it. Le Fée crashed a fierce effort against the post from 10 yards with Kelleher beaten. Thomas Meunier then arrived onto a cut-back but fired his first-time effort straight at substitute goalkeeper Jannik Schuster, a huge chance wasted.
Granit Xhaka bossed the midfield, snapping into duels and recycling possession, while Meunier and Nilson Angulo repeatedly tore into the space behind Brentford’s back line. The home side could not cope with Sunderland’s physical edge or direct running. When the whistle went for half-time, Brentford were level on the scoreboard but hanging on in every other sense.
Andrews rolls the dice, Janelt strikes
Something had to change, and Andrews knew it. He made three substitutions at the break, a clear admission that the first-half plan had failed.
The impact was immediate. The game flipped. Suddenly it was Sunderland who were penned in, stripped of an outlet, unable to clear their lines or find a pass through Brentford’s reshaped press.
The pressure told just before the hour.
Nordi Mukiele did the first part well, adjusting his body to head away a dangerous cross. But the clearance dropped into a dead zone, no Sunderland shirt alive to the danger. Vitaly Janelt was. He strode onto the loose ball, 15 yards out, and caught it flush. The half-volley arrowed into the top corner, Robin Roefs helpless as the Gtech finally erupted.
From there, Brentford smelled blood. Keane Lewis-Potter should have killed the contest, only to miscue a volley into the ground and over when well placed. Anthony then had the ball in the net, but his opportunism crossed a line: he was penalised for taking it out of Roefs’ hands before scoring.
Sunderland, so assertive earlier, were now clinging on. Their attacks had dried up. Their passes went backwards. Their manager’s touchline instructions grew more urgent.
Penalty drama and redemption
The game still had one more twist.
With time running out, Wilson Isidor stepped up to a free-kick and forced Kelleher into a sharp low save. It felt like a half-chance, nothing more. Then Isidor went again, driving into the box with Lewis-Potter at his back.
There was contact. Hands on the forward. Down he went. The referee pointed to the spot.
Brentford protested, and they had a case. The penalty looked on the generous side, the kind that splits pundits and enrages home crowds. But the decision stood, and the ball was placed on the spot.
Le Fée walked forward, alone with the memory of that failed panenka on this same turf in January. No tricks this time. No flourish. He opened up his body, sent Kelleher the wrong way, and drilled Sunderland level.
The roar from the away end told its own story. Sunderland had been excellent in the first half, outplayed after the break, and still found a way to leave with something. Brentford, patched up and reshaped, had come within touching distance of three points and let them slip.
For Le Fée, though, the night will be remembered less for the scoreline and more for the moment. Same spot. Same player. This time, the ball hit the net and stayed there.
