Brentford were forced to settle for a share of the spoils at the end of a 0-0 draw with Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Ground on Saturday.

Despite playing the last quarter with a man advantage following the sending off of Gary Sawyer, and enjoying the majority of possession, the Bees were unable to make the breakthrough.

However, Bees’ boss Andy Scott was pleased with what he saw: “It was the third clean sheet on the trot and we created a lot of chances. We could have hit the target a bit more but I think in any other game we would have won it.

“That’s the way we’ve got to look at it; we need to take the positives out of it and there were a hell of a lot of them.”

Scott was forced into one change, with Nicky Adams replacing Robbie Simpson, missing due to a hamstring injury.

Former Bee John Akinde had the game’s first chance when he latched onto a pass from midfield but shot over the bar from the right hand side of the box.

In reply Brentford broke quickly down the left, with Myles Weston’s cross come shot to the back post narrowly over the bar.

Midway through the half Charlie MacDonald set up Weston in the centre of the field and his low shot from 25 yards sailed just wide of the left hand post.

Another former Bee, Jo Kuffour, latched onto a long ball and his early looping shot was held by Ben Hamer.

Hamer had to be alert minutes later when he raced out to the edge of his box to clear a long ball just ahead of the advancing Will Hoskins.

A good run by Hoskins down the right set up Kuffour inside the box, but his shot was well blocked by Hamer. Just before half time Stuart Campbell shot wide of the right hand post from the edge of the box after the Bees failed to clear the ball.

Brentford almost took the lead within minutes of the re-start, with Weston bringing an acrobatic save out of Mikkel Andersen.

The Bees continued their good start to the half when Osborne played the ball across the pitch to Weston on the left, who crossed into the middle, from where Gary Alexander volleyed over the bar.

After Weston switched wings MacDonald found him wide on the right and as he cut inside he fired a curling shot wide of the left hand post.

Adams nearly put the Bees ahead when he took a pass on the edge of the box and after cleverly creating space for the shot, brought a good save out of Andersen.

Rovers were forced to play the last quarter of the match with ten men when Gary Sawyer received his second yellow card following a challenge on Michael Spillane on the touchline.

The Bees nearly broke the deadlock when Spillane crossed from the right and Alexander’s header from the edge of the six yard box was well saved by Andersen.

MacDonald had the best chance of the game when Woodman crossed from the left to the back post but the striker shot over the bar from six yards out.

As the Bees piled on the pressure Spillane headed Adams’ cross over the bar, while in stoppage time Adams crossed from the right and Weston blazed over.

Brentford: Hamer; Spillane, Balkestein, Osborne, Woodman; Adams, O’Connor, Diagouraga, Weston; Alexander, MacDonald Subs: Lee, McCracken, Bean, Saunders, Forster, Wood, Blake Attendance: 5609 (456 Bees) Man of the Match: Karleigh Osborne