Keith Andrews insisted there are “fine margins” between who plays and who doesn’t for Brentford after watching his team cruise into the third round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday.
Andrews watched on as his team built on their opening day victory against Tottenham with a 6-1 thrashing of Championship side Birmingham City at St. Andrew’s.
Callum Wilson opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a fine finish into the bottom-right corner before Demarai Gray’s 23rd-minute strike from distance levelled things up.
But two goals in five minutes at the end of the first half by Aaron Hickey and Nathan Collins put Brentford in control, and they turned on the style during the second period.
Mikkel Damsgaard finished at Ryan Allsop’s near post in the 70th minute, with Igor Thiago coming off the bench to tuck home Jaidon Anthony’s inviting cross three minutes later.
Brentford captain Collins concluded the rout when his 77th-minute header nestled into the bottom-left corner after he was picked out by Mamadou Sangare’s ball into the area.
Collins, Dango Ouattara and Vitaly Janelt were the only players to keep their place from Brentford’s win against Tottenham, though Andrews said the gap in quality between the players who started and were on the bench was minimal.
“I didn’t really blink an eyelid, making so many changes,” Andrews said.
“There is a huge narrative around cup games with coaches making changes, but with the squad we have, there are fine margins between who plays and doesn’t play.
“We needed to compete really hard to play the game we wanted. I thought overall we had a really good performance.”
Anthony was the standout performer with three assists, while he also registered team-high totals for chances created (four) and touches in the opposition box (seven).
Safely into the hat pic.twitter.com/2US9WZsbhE
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) August 25, 2026
Brentford will be joined in the hat for the third round by Hull City, who needed penalties to get past Stoke City following a 1-1 draw in normal time at the bet365 Stadium.
Kieran Dowell quickly cancelled out Robert Bozenik’s 39th-minute opener, but Dillon Phillips proved to be the shoot-out hero, saving George Hirst’s penalty to clinch a 5-4 victory for Sergej Jakirovic’s side.
Ipswich Town also safely made it through with a 3-1 win over Leicester City, with Russell Martin still awaiting his first win since taking over at the King Power Stadium.
The standout result came at Vicarage Road, with Watford on the end of a 5-1 hammering by League One side Peterborough United, with Harry Leonard scoring twice.
