Enzo Le Fée's Redemption: Sunderland vs Brentford Penalty Drama
Enzo Le Fée buried his penalty, turned away to the Sunderland fans and finally exorcised the ghost of last season.
Same end, same stadium, same player. Very different outcome.
The French midfielder, who had humiliated himself with a failed panenka at the Gtech Community Stadium back in January, stepped up in the 82nd minute and this time drilled low and true to secure a 1-1 draw against Brentford. Redemption from 12 yards, and a point his side had no intention of leaving without.
Sunderland dominate, VAR intervenes
For 45 minutes, Regis Le Bris’ team bullied Brentford on their own pitch.
They thought they had the perfect start. After just eight minutes, Dan Ballard swept a clever finish into the bottom corner and sprinted away in celebration. The away end erupted. Then came the pause. And the lines. And the angles.
A long, fraught VAR check eventually ruled Kevin Danso offside on his debut, the defender adjudged to have strayed and blocked Caoimhin Kelleher’s view. Goal wiped out, momentum checked, irritation rising.
Sunderland didn’t sulk. They went again.
Brentford’s problems deepened when captain Nathan Collins was forced off inside 20 minutes after a clash with Noah Sadiki. Deprived of their defensive leader, the hosts looked rattled, and almost immediately Sunderland nearly punished them.
Le Fée, already dictating the tempo, latched onto a loose ball 10 yards out and smashed a shot past Kelleher – but not past the post. The ball cannoned off the upright and away, Brentford surviving by inches.
Thomas Meunier then arrived onto a cut-back he should have buried, only to fire a tame first-time effort straight at substitute goalkeeper Jannik Schuster. It summed up the half: Sunderland sharper, stronger, more direct; Brentford hanging on.
Granit Xhaka patrolled midfield with authority, snapping into challenges and recycling possession, while the runs in behind from Meunier and Nilson Angulo repeatedly stretched a home back line that never looked settled. By the interval, Brentford could only be grateful to still be level.
Andrews rolls the dice – and Janelt strikes
Keith Andrews knew it. His side needed a jolt. He made three changes at the break, and the game flipped.
Where Sunderland had bossed territory and duels in the first half, suddenly they were penned in. Their out-balls vanished, their composure went with them, and Brentford began to squeeze.
The pressure told just before the hour.
Nordi Mukiele did well initially, adjusting his body to head away a dangerous cross into the box. But the clearance dropped into a dead zone 15 yards out, with no Sunderland shirt alive to the danger. Vitaly Janelt was.
He strode onto the loose ball and met it with a crisp half-volley, arrowing it into the top corner beyond Robin Roefs. One clean swing, one ruthless finish, and Brentford had the lead their second-half response warranted.
The hosts suddenly looked like they might run away with it. Keane Lewis-Potter should have killed the contest, only to miscue a volley horribly, bouncing it into the ground and over the bar. Anthony then had the ball in the net, but was penalised for taking it out of Roefs’ hands, the goalkeeper deemed to be in control.
Sunderland, once so assured, were now scrambling just to get out of their own half.
Penalty drama and Le Fée’s catharsis
Yet Le Bris’ side stayed in the game. They absorbed, they waited, and when their moment came, they seized it.
Wilson Isidor, introduced from the bench, drove into the area with eight minutes left. Lewis-Potter had his hands on him, Isidor went down, and the referee pointed to the spot. The contact was there, the decision generous. Brentford protested, but the call stood.
All eyes went to Le Fée.
Same stadium. Same penalty spot. Same player who had tried to be clever in January and ended up the punchline.
No tricks this time. No panenka. Just conviction.
He sent Kelleher the wrong way, tucking his penalty into the corner and roaring in relief as much as celebration. A point secured, a personal nightmare rewritten.
Brentford will feel the game had been dragged from their grasp just as Andrews’ bold changes looked set to deliver all three points. Sunderland, after a dominant first half, will argue they got what they deserved.
For Le Fée, though, this was about more than the scoreline. Some grounds haunt you. He walked off this one having finally answered back.
