By Aaron Ramsdale Southampton Brentford's debut was thwarted by a brace from Bryan Mbeumo and another from Yoane Wissa. Ivan Toney, whose move to Saudi Arabia's Al-Ahli was announced early on Saturday morning, watched from the stands to see how his former club would cope without him.
Mbeumo gave a promising response with his second goal of the new Premier League Wissa's goal came just before the break, before he scored his third goal after the restart. Wissa then scored to give the hosts a comfortable lead, with Yukinari Sugawara ending Southampton's wait for a Premier League goal in the dying moments.
Toney gave a farewell speech to the team and Thomas Frank, the Brentford The coach said: “I was a bit emotional too. I said a few things and then he said something to the players.
“He's been a great player for Brentford, a Brentford legend, and I mean that. When you're at a club like ours and you score 72 goals in 141 games, those are incredible, incredible numbers.
“He has been on a fantastic journey with us over the last four years. I have enjoyed working with him on and off the pitch. It says a lot about Ivan that he wanted to come here and say goodbye to his friends and teammates, members of staff and everyone around the club.
“Ivan has been a key player for us, especially the first three years, and then there was a disruption with the ban.
“He has been one of our best players, if not the best player in that period, consistently scoring goals for us and we played fantastic football with him.”
It was a fresh start for Ramsdale too and the former Arsenal goalkeeper was thrust into action early on his debut as Mbeumo drove into the Southampton six-yard box, patiently controlling the ball before finding Mikkel Damsgaard, who forced a fine save from Ramsdale.
The visitors earned their first corner in the seventh minute, and almost got it when Joe Aribo hit the post after heading it in with the small of his back. Brentford enjoyed more deep attacks into the visitors' final third as the half of the first period approached. However, they lacked any clear finishing, and Wissa twice looked the most likely to open the scoring.
A timely intervention by Sugawara denied Kevin Schade's shot, and an attentive clearance from Joe Aribo prevented Wissa's effort in the ensuing scramble from opening the scoring.
Frank was forced into a substitution in the 39th minute when Kristoffer Ajer went down and was replaced by Mads Roerslev.
After the newsletter promotion
Brentford took the lead two minutes before the break when Schade went close to scoring just before the interval but fired in off Ramsdale's left-hand post after some slack defending from Taylor Harwood-Bellis and the rebound fell perfectly into the path of Mbeumo, who made the most of it with a low finish.
Somehow the lead remained intact at the break after Adam Armstrong missed a presentable chance from close range.
Russell Martin made two second-half changes, replacing Armstrong with Cameron Archer, bringing on Mateus Fernandes for Will Smallbone and then bringing on Tyler Dibling for the booked Harwood-Bellis ten minutes later. Ramsdale conceded his second goal in the 65th minute after his side had again lost the ball in their own half. The hosts quickly passed to Mathias Jensen, who set up Mbeumo's low goal in the 65th minute.
Four minutes later, Wissa got his name on the scoresheet from a throw-in, which Vitaly Janelt crossed for the Congolese international to score. The Saints rarely looked like
breaking the deadlock, but just when it looked as if Southampton were heading for a third consecutive top-flight game, Dibling passed the ball to 36-year-old substitute Adam Lallana, whose headed pass allowed Sugawara to score with a shot that rebounded off the post.
A goal was welcome, a point would be even more so for Southampton.
