Keith Andrews Hailed for ‘Dark Arts’ in Bruno Fernandes Penalty Miss

Brentford boss Keith Andrews have been praised for deploying ‘dark acts’ against Manchester United.

On Saturday afternoon, United travelled to the Gtech Community Stadium looking to get their 25/26 season back on track.

However, Ruben Amorim’s men got off the worst possible start as a brace from Igor Thiago made it 2-0 to Brentford inside the first 20 minutes.

Benjamin Sesko made it 2-1 before half-time, before Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty in the 76th minute.

United were awarded a penalty after former Bees star Bryan Mbeumo was fouled by Nathan Collins.

However, before Fernandes took the penalty, there was a long VAR delay to check whether Collins’ yellow card should be upgraded to a red.

The decision was that the original yellow card stood, which meant play was ready to resume.

However, at this stage, Brentford decided to make two substitutions, further delaying the taking of the penalty.

After the long wait, Fernandes saw his penalty saved by Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher.

Taking to social media, fans reacted to Brentford manager Andrews’ ‘dark acts’.

One fan said: “Keith Andrews that is incredible dark art management!”

Another tweeted: “Keith Andrews Sub was smart as hell, completely iced him.”

A third fan added: “Keith Andrews master of the dark arts.”

Someone else wrote: “Subs AFTER a lengthy VAR check to delay the penalty even further? Keith Andrews you have my respect.”

A fifth commented: “Keith Andrews masterclass there. Bruno Fernandes was already waiting 3 mins for the VAR, and just when hes about to take the penalty, Keith Andrews decides to subs on 2 more players to make him wait another minute,before he misses the penalty.”

Explaining why Collins escaped a red card, the Premier League Match Centre said on X: “The referee’s call of penalty was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Collins deemed to pull Mbeumo back. VAR also checked the referee’s call of yellow card to Collins – and deemed that Mbeumo wasn’t in control of the ball.”

Deep into stoppage time, Mathias Jensen made it 3-1 with a brilliant finish following a counter attack.