Brentford 1 – 1 Aston Villa

Brentford progressed to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup courtesy of a 4-2 penalty shoot-out win over Aston Villa, following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.

Hakon Valdimarsson – who had gifted Harvey Elliott the opener just before the break, ending Villa’s run of 509 minutes without a competitive goal – was the hero for Keith Andrews’ men, producing two brilliant saves to deny John McGinn and Matty Cash.

Mikkel Damsgaard rolled in the Bees’ fourth penalty to send them into the next stage of the competition for the fourth time in six seasons.

Brentford had to soak up plenty of early pressure from their opponents who, after drawing a blank in their first four Premier League games, were beginning to grow desperate for a goal. But, crucially, they struggled to create anything of note in attack, as the home fans taunted their barren spell.

Andrews’ side came close when Sepp van den Berg’s free header was brilliantly tipped over by Marco Bizot, while Dango Ouattara raised pulses with some encouraging runs down the right-hand side.

But it was Villa who broke the deadlock just before the break. McGinn won the ball high as the hosts were caught playing out from the back and fed Elliott, whose shot went through Valdimarsson’s hands, through his legs and into the back of the net.

The run without scoring a competitive goal, which stretched all the way back to May 16, when Boubacar Kamara scored against Tottenham, was over.

Debutant Jadon Sancho – who joined on loan from Manchester United on Deadline Day – struck the outside of the post early in the second half, just before Brentford levelled in stunning fashion.

Their late equaliser against Chelsea on Saturday came from a long throw as did their equaliser in this game. Pau Torres’ header on from Frank Onyeka’s delivery dropped kindly for Aaron Hickey, who struck a sweet first-time volley into the top-left corner.

With neither side able to force a winner, the game went straight to penalties. The shoot-out started in nightmare fashion for the visitors, as Valdimarsson dived low to his right to keep out McGinn’s effort.

Each of the next four penalties hit the back of the net, but Brentford edged closer to victory when the Icelandic goalkeeper produced another strong stop to push Cash’s effort around the post – and they wrapped it up shortly after when Damsgaard stayed cool under pressure to roll home the decisive spot-kick.

Andrews “delighted” to progress after “testing” night

Brentford head coach Keith Andrews to Sky Sports:

“I’m delighted for the group. We made a lot of changes tonight, with players coming in, debuts for Reiss Nelson, Benjy Arthur, who we have a lot of faith and confidence in. Hakon was the hero with those saves after a testing night.

“I just think that’s testament to the group. I don’t really care about mistakes; it’s about the intentions of the players on a day-to-day basis and they’re always pretty good here, so it’s a nice end to the night.

“I was quick to say at half-time, I felt, after the first 10 minutes of the game, we were probably the better side throughout the first half, caused them more problems, got a grip of the game, got more control, grew into it confidence-wise and then gifted them a goal. From that we’re in a good place second half.

“We’re delighted to go through.”

Emery: We’re disappointed, but we are seeing improvement

Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery:

“We scored one goal, positive. We drew. And the penalty shoot-out we lost so we are disappointed.

“We have to get strong defensively and offensively and get in combination good performances. Today is one part of the way. Not with the result we wanted but we have to accept it.

“There is still a lot of work to do, a lot of practice and matches. I think we are watching some improvement. Not enough but a lot of things will be positive.”