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Wolves’ Diego Costa gets sent off for headbutt on Brentford’s Ben Mee in 97th minute

Wolves’ Diego Costa gets sent off for a headbutt on Brentford’s Ben Mee with the game playing out to a 1-1 draw on Saturday afternoon.

Diego Costa doing things that Diego Costa only does in the closing stages of the game. Mee had a hold of his shirt, there was a bit of jostling before Costa appeared to throw his head into Mee’s.

Referee Bobby Madley, returning to top flight for the first time since being sacked, was instructed to consult the pitchside monitor. He took a couple of looks at the footage before brandishing a straight red card for violent conduct.

The game itself saw a dire and stoppage-plagued first half before Brentford took the lead thanks to Ben Mee producing a stunning scissor-kick but it would last just two minutes, with Ruben Neves equalising with the goal which earned his side a point.

The point suits neither team as a tight bottom half of the Premier League table shows no signs of separating itself. Come the end of the 3pm kick offs, Wolves sit 18th, with 10 points from 13 games played. Brentford are 11th with 15 points from 13 games.

Player ratings

Brentford: Raya 6; Ajer 6, Mee 7, Pinnock 6, Henry 7; Jensen 5, Janelt 6, Dasilva 7; Mbeumo 6, Toney 5, Wissa 6

Subs: Damsgaard 6, Lewis-Potter 7, Onyeka (n/a), Roerslev (n/a), Canos (n/a)

Wolves: Sa 7; Semedo 5, Collins 8, Kilman 7, Bueno 6; Neves 7, Nunes 5, B.Traore 6; A.Traore 6, Costa 4, Podence 7

Subs: Moutinho 6, Guedes (n/a)

Man of the match: Nathan Collins (Wolves)

Steve Davis believes Wolves showed they were “up for a fight” at Brentford and hopes that performance can get them back on track after back-to-back defeats.

On battling for the point

“I think we needed it. It’s important we showed that we were up for a fight, even at this stage of the season, that we were prepared to come to these sorts of places and fight and battle for something out of it. I was really pleased with that aspect of our game today.

“In both boxes we were a threat. We defended well, there was a lot of set plays and things coming into our box, a lot of long throws, and you’ve got to deal with that, you’ve got to put your body there, pick second balls up and I thought we did it well.

“We needed a reaction [to Leicester]. They obviously came off the same result, so both teams probably wanted a bit more out of the game, but I think we deserved what we got in the end. They did what we asked them to before the game, to battle, compete and go into it with a strong mentality.”

On the balance between defence and attack

“We attacked the box well last week but didn’t defend it well. Today, we attacked and defended both boxes very well. I would have liked a few more goals, but we know what we’ve got to improve on.

“We showed we’re battling away. We know the quality’s there, but the mentality has to change, and everybody will have seen signs of that today. It was massive to give us a bit of confidence, on the back of the home defeat.”

On a fine Neves goal

“I’ve seen him do that in training many times and in games. The ball got played across, I thought we’d blocked it off a bit, ‘Boub’ stepped over it and he knew what he was doing – he’s been in that situation many times, when it comes across the box he knows exactly where he’s going with it, and it’s a sublime finish.

“It was important straight after the goal. You could feel the stadium rocking after the goal, so to hit back quickly was good. We kept them quiet and had a couple of decent periods after that.

“We’re disappointed with how we defended the set play, we didn’t quite switch on early enough to block the cross, and he’s got free in the box, so we’re disappointed with that. To reply quickly, it went back in our favour for five or ten minutes.”

On Costa’s red card

“I haven’t really watched it. Obviously, we had a discussion and Diego has apologised. Something’s happened. We’ll have to look at that this week to see what we do at the weekend. He’ll be missing the three games before the World Cup, but it gives other players opportunities, they’ve been waiting and are ready to come on, so we’ll see what happens.

“He’s an unbelievable competitor and players like that play on the edge, so you have to go with that. That’s how they get the best out of themselves. Maybe of this occasion something has occurred, but he has to play on the edge to be the player he is, so you have to accept sometimes that he might get that wrong.”

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank could not fault the energy and attitude of his players as they were held.

Reflecting on the match, Frank said: “I think we need to take a helicopter view and look down.

“First of all, we needed to bounce back from last weekend’s performance, and I think we did that in a decent way. There was a lot of initiative, a lot of energy and running with a lot of will power. That is the foundation of bouncing back.

“We worked so hard to get in front and after that we need to be even more aware not to concede straight after. We need to do that a bit better.

“After that I felt we lacked the coolness and the quality on the day to create a few more big chances, so that was the frustrating bit, but all the foundation areas were ticked in terms of bouncing back. It is what it is, this is the Premier League, it’s a relentless league.”

The Bees did create some positive moments as Josh Dasilva saw his curled effort in the first half edge just wide of goal, before having a powerful drive well blocked in the second period. Captain on the day Ivan Toney also had a couple of moments where he may have been able to get a shot away but for a slip and a Wolves block.

Frank continued: “The small margins going our way didn’t maybe drop for us but that happens and we just need to continue to work hard and keep going forward.”

On the goal that the Bees did get, Frank was full of praise for Mee as he put in an assured display at the back while firing a fine volley past José Sá in the Wolves goal.

He adds: “It was a fantastic finish, what a goal, what a performance from Ben again. He maybe played some of his best football and I really enjoy watching him play. I think he deserved three points for that goal.”

Mathias Jensen was substituted on 37 minutes following an injury that Frank says the backroom staff will assess, while he also felt that Mikkel Damsgaard showed some good moments as he replaced him before the break. In a game that had a number of stoppages throughout, Frank felt that his side were unable to build momentum.

He said: “I think Mathias got a dead leg so we will assess him. I thought that Mikkel did well when he came on and I think he was involved in the goal and got into some good situations.

“It is frustrating and, of course there were some injuries. I would love to have had more rhythm to the game.

“We wanted to win, as always we go for that win but I think the energy, the initiative, the running and the will power, I loved that. We need to build on going forwards.”

This is how Twitter reacted as Wolves’ Diego Costa gets sent off for a headbutt on Brentford’s Ben Mee…

@WWFCJoel: Brilliant… that’s us without a striker AGAIN!!

@jackthenewee: Nice we have a backup striker lads well done fosun 👌🏻

@cyanlight_: Is it bad I laughed? Mee didn’t complain tbf it looked aggressive but he was just messing around

@rob_duxbury: Doesn’t get any better does it! 😔

@MalcolmPayne16: Both should have got a red. Poor ref performance again.

@gjp12775: Good draw for us, under the circumstances. Brentford were also looking for a bounce back, so great we fought hard for the point. Bitter taste with the Costa red. Got to sort the coach appt now not later. Onto BHA. #wwfc

@_TomPegg: Some good performances in the 2nd half & a massive improvement on last weekend. We knew that was coming at some stage with Costa, but its now put us back to having no natural striker for next weekends big game at home #wwfc

@dtr2527: Diego Costa has been great in and around wolves and performances have been fairly decent but jesus christ. Why oh why do that in the 98th minute and miss 3 games! Ffs Diego #WWFC

@OldGoldPrints: Now that was a performance we can take positives from, showed fight and battled. Bueno had another cracking game. Podence turned up and lead with his performance, and Costa had a good game before the GBH on Mee. #wwfc

@Laurenn_B94: Costa you idiot. Good job we’ve got a load of options up front isn’t it 😂 Christ. #wwfc

@mortimer_ben: Costa, panto villain personified. Thanks for missing next games mate, not like we need all the help we can get 🙄 #wwfc

@Beardo92: Costa you fucking idiot, how predictable was that when we signed him? #wwfc

@Hayden_Millsy: Costa got about 100 shots to 0 goals ratio … Wolves fans will still rack him off tho 😂😂 #wwfc

@Westywwfc: Much, much better. Improvement and fight were called for and were delivered, in spades. Not a perfect performance but not a loss and plenty to build on. Again we have a striker crisis following Costa’s red. 1-1 I’ll take that all things considered #wwfc

@thewolves1877: Diego Costa, the ultimate shithouse. Hasn’t scored a single goal, and is now suspended until after the World Cup… Got no words!. 🐺 #wwfc

@BunkerBlue: Diego Costa what the FUCK. That was some bullshit. WE NEED A WIN. WHY. WHY DO THAT. How the fuck you going to grab a guy and head butt him like that. Jesus. I’m a Wolves fan but that shit can go. #WWFC #BREWOL

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