Chairman Martin Lange Stadium Griffin Park Play-offs Semi-finals | Manager David Webb Second Division 2nd FA Cup First round | |
During the 1994–95 English football season, Brentford competed in the Football League Second Division. After a runners-up finish in the league, club's season ended after defeat in the 1995 play-off semi-finals.
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Season summary
Brentford entered the 1994–95 Second Division season with the nucleus of a new squad, built since the breakup of the side which was relegated from the First Division at the end of the 1992–93 season. Forward Nicky Forster was manager David Webb's only significant summer signing, a £200,000 buy from Third Division Gillingham. Eight wins and four defeats from the opening 12 games saw the Bees placed 4th in the league, before four defeats in the next five matches dropped the club into mid-table. First and second round exits from the three cup competitions lightened the fixture load by early December and Brentford set off on a 14-match unbeaten run, winning 10 matches and racking up notable 7–0 and 6–0 victories over Plymouth Argyle and Cambridge United respectively. The victory over Cambridge United in late January 1995 returned the Bees to the top of the table for the first time since the opening day of the season, when five goals were put past Plymouth Argyle. Twin strikers Nicky Forster and Robert Taylor were in imperious form, scoring over half the team's goals and forming a partnership that came to be known as the 'FT Index'.
The unbeaten run came to an end with defeat to Shrewsbury Town on 25 February, but another 11-match unbeaten sequence kept Brentford in top spot going into late April. Brentford's good form ran in tandem with that of Birmingham City's and the Blues topped the table for the first time in eight weeks on 19 April, with the Bees returning to the summit three days later after a 2–0 victory over Cardiff City. The two clubs faced off in a "winner takes all" match at St Andrew's on 26 April, with just first place in the Second Division offering automatic promotion due to a restructuring of the English league system. A 2–0 defeat for Brentford in front of 25,81 (the division's record attendance for the season) led to the team entering the play-offs on the back of a home defeat to Bournemouth and an away draw with Bristol Rovers. The Bees met fifth-placed Huddersfield Town in the play-off semi-finals and were knocked out on penalties after a 2–2 draw on aggregate, with captain Jamie Bates seeing his decisive spot kick saved.