Danjuma drives the Cherries to a first leg lead as Bournemouth beat Brentford

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Arnaut Danjuma was instrumental in the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-finals as he helped give Bournemouth a slender 1-0 advantage against Brentford.

The Cherries took the lead after an electric counter-attack, instrumented by David Brooks, finished by Danjuma in the 55th minute.

Brentford responded positively with a triple substitution as Rico Henry, Emiliano Marcondes and Bryan Mbeumo entered the field. Mbeumo was gifted the opportunity to level the game after brilliant work from Christian Norgaard.

The Frenchman missed a glorious chance as he saw his effort fly past the post of a gaping goal. Despite making a positive impact, it was Bournemouth’s direct winger, Danjuma that took most of the plaudits come the final whistle.

Danjuma proved why he picked up both Championship Player of the Month and Goal of the Month in April as he caused issues for the Brentford back-line all evening.

The Dutchman played alongside both Dominic Solanke and David Brooks as the trio occupied the three centre-halves of Brentford. Both wingers were at their best when drifting inside onto their stronger foot.

The 24-year-old has 23 goal contributions this season, as he has kicked on for the Cherries in the Championship. Of course, Danjuma scored the vital goal for his side but was involved in a lot of Bournemouth’s good attacking play.

It was no shock that the winger cooly slotted his effort beyond an outstretched David Raya after his recent uplift in form. He should have had a second too when his free-kick was tipped superbly over the bar by the Brentford shot-stopper.

Man of the Match Danjuma was delighted with the team’s goal after the game as they took the lead of the tie against Brentford.

“It’s nice to see what we train on being executed on the pitch, we knew they would be confident on the ball and we knew we are one of the best counter attacking side in the division.”

When asked after the game, the Dutchman was aware that the fixture was far from finished as his side have to endure another 90 minutes of football on Saturday at the Brentford Community Stadium.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m buzzing with the win and I’m happy we have won at home but I don’t want to be too confident yet with the second leg to come. Half of the job is done and let’s make sure we finish it in the second leg.

“The fans helped us massively and it is 12 against 11 when the fans are back and shouting as the atmosphere and adrenalin is different. It just gives us that extra push that we needed.”

His direct interplay was key as Danjuma completed the most successful dribbles while creating the most chances out of everyone on the pitch.

Going into the season, fans had questioned if they had seen the best from the 24-year-old as he failed to deliver consistently when his side were in the Premier League.

It’s safe to say this burden has been put to bed as Danjuma continued to prove any doubters wrong with his fantastic display against the Bees.

His versatility was on show as he quickly adapted to the ever-changing game around him, it looks like the second leg could be a similar story as Brentford host Bournemouth, with at least one goal to find if the West London club want to reach the play-off final.

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