Brentford survived an early scare against League One Leyton Orient before Fabio Carvalho’s stunning first goal for the club helped them ease into the Carabao Cup fourth round with a 3-1 win at the Gtech Community Stadium.
Thomas Frank made eight changes to the team that had been beaten by Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday and the gamble looked at risk of backfiring when defender Brandon Cooper stunned home supporters in west London with an early tap-in to hand Richie Wellens’ side the lead.
But Frank’s stand-ins rallied and replied with three goals before the break, the highlight a fabulous overhead kick from Carvalho to equalise, before Mikkel Damsgaard’s header and Christian Norgaard’s 18-yard strike established a two-goal lead.
Orient stayed in the game for much of the second half until captain Jack Simpson was sent off 20 minutes from time, as a brave display ended in a cup exit.
The team currently 22nd in the third tier began boldly, defying their lowly league placing. Inside the opening 10 minutes, impressive Tottenham loanee Jamie Donley carried the ball infield from the right, bounced an attempted through ball off Ben Mee and, as it broke back to him, hit a shot that deflected wide off Norgaard.
The opening goal moments later was no more than Orient’s early ambition deserved. Winger Diallang Jaiyesimi showed fleetness of foot to make space to shoot, hitting an effort that spun away to the right-back Tom James positioned near the touchline. He sent over a wicked cross that was side-footed in unmarked at the far post by Cooper.
The equaliser was not long in arriving. A superb run by Kevin Shade ended in him dispatching a low shot that pinged into the air off the foot of goalkeeper Josh Keeley. From
soccer
League Cup
Thomas Frank
Fabio Carvalho
Leyton Orient
Christian Norgaard
Jack Simpson
Brentford
Mikkel Damsgaard