Substitute Josh Dasilva’s late flare saved Brentford a point as they fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 in their Premier League opener at Leicester.
Dasilva, a second-half substitute for Mathias Jensen, scored an unlikely equalizer four minutes from time for the Bees, who had been clearly second for most of the game.
Leicester had been more than good value for their 2-0 lead after goals in each half from Timothy Castagne and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall before Ivan Toney pulled one back in the 62nd minute.
The first brilliant #lcfc time of 2022/23 🥰#LEIBRE pic.twitter.com/F7cdeiyeVC
– Leicester City (@LCFC) August 7, 2022
The Foxes dominated the first 45 minutes so much so that their 1-0 lead in the interval was hardly rewarded.
After Brentford striker Bryan Mbeumo volleyed straight past Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward in the 10th minute, it was one-sided.
Ward, preferred in goal to Daniel Iversen following the departure of Kasper Schmeichel in Ligue 1 in Nice, has rarely been touched.
On the other side, Bees keeper David Raya was much busier, parrying a deflected effort from Wilfred Ndidi before James Maddison headed in a cross from Youri Tielemans just wide.
Timothy Castagne’s header gave Leicester the lead at home to Brentford (Richard Sellers/PA)Maddison was the provider when the Foxes took a deserved lead in the 27th minute as Castagne rose high to power into his corner.
Maddison and Dewsbury-Hall were central to all of Leicester’s best work as Brentford sat deep and was surprisingly passive, the former’s volley comfortably collected by Raya.
Raya was beaten again three minutes before half-time when Tielemans’ 25-yard shot bounced off his right post, but the Foxes gave the scoreline a truer reflection of their dominance just 30 seconds after the restart.
Jamie Vardy fired Dewsbury-Hall 25 yards from goal and the impressive home midfielder fired a low shot into the bottom corner.
Ivan Toney celebrates after pulling back a goal for Brentford at Leicester (Richard Sellers/PA)It seemed like a long way for the Bees, but they snapped out of their stupor and Toney threw a lifeline at them in the 62nd minute after a rare forward foray.
Toney controlled the ball from Rico Henry in the edge of the penalty area and, after fending off Daniel Amartey’s challenge, he hung the ball home.
Leicester responded with Wesley Fofana’s header from Maddison’s free-kick, which hit a post before Raya fended off the rebound.
👊 The perfect time for your very first #PL objective
🦊 2-2 🐝#BrentfordFC | #LEIBRE pic.twitter.com/KMb1WZ7q3T
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) August 7, 2022
As the game entered the final quarter, Brentford continued to improve and nearly equalized when Toney evaded his marker at the far post and headed Mbeumo’s brilliant deep cross from inches wide.
But, out of nowhere in the closing stages, Dasilva slammed a shot from the edge of the penalty area to equalize after cutting inside on his left foot.