WITH Neil Warnock off to the Barclays Premiership with Sheffield United, the Coca- Cola Championship will need a new motormouth manager to enliven it next season. Step forward the leading candidate, Martin Allen, of Brentford, whose side eked out a draw against Swansea City in the first leg of their League One play-offs semi-final at the Liberty Stadium last night.

Brentford should have returned to Griffin Park, for the second leg on Sunday, with a victory. Even though they played with ten men for most of the second half, after Stuart Nelson, their goalkeeper, had been sent off, they appeared to be capable of holding on to their 1-0 half-time lead until Sam Ricketts equalised with a speculative, angled drive in the 86th minute.

For “Mad Dog” Martin to replace “Nutty” Neil in the Championship, there is much work to be done yet. Swansea, the leading scorers in League One during the regular season, are unlikely to roll over in West London and, even if Brentford are successful, they would still have to defeat Barnsley or Huddersfield Town in the play-offs final in Cardiff — another trip to South Wales — on May 27.

By then, Allen could have lost his voice completely. He hollered his way through a match that rarely dipped below the frantic and, at the end, was hoarse. Having had a quiet Hamlet moment to himself, smoking a cigar in the empty dugout, he then croaked his way through a press conference in the players’ tunnel.

“We played superbly in the first half,” Allen said. “The players acquitted themselves really well, especially after the sending-off, but it’s going to be tough in the second leg. It could turn into ‘Bloody Sunday’.”

History is against Brentford reaching the second tier via the sudden-death route. In the past 15 years, they have lost three times in the play-offs semifinals and twice in the final. However, Allen’s optimism is limitless and, true to form, he spent most of the first half gesticulating and fist-pumping in his technical area as his side, who finished in third place in the regular season, dominated.

Swansea, who were sixth in the league and five points behind their rivals, offered little and it was Brentford’s more precise inter-play that was deservedly rewarded on the half-hour. Jay Tabb created and finished a flowing move along the left flank, drilling home a low shot after the defence had only half-cleared Sam Tillen’s pull-back.

Seven minutes into the second half, the complexion of the game changed completely with the dismissal of Nelson. Leon Knight raced on to a pass from Owain Tudur-Jones and, although he reached the ball first, he tumbled to the ground after only the merest of touches from the onrushing Nelson.

Keith Stroud, the referee, thought long and hard before showing Nelson a red card. “He made the right decision,” Allen said, before slipping back into “Mad Dog” mode. “But that was the only decision he got right all night. He gave us nothing. He got carried away with the occasion and the atmosphere. We got no protection at all.”

Brentford defended stubbornly in front of Ademole Bankole, the replacement goalkeeper, but could do nothing about Ricketts’s long-range equaliser. “It gave us a lifeline and something to build on,” Kenny Jackett, the Swansea manager, said. “That sets it up nicely for Sunday.”

SWANSEA CITY (4-4-2): W Gueret — A Tate, G Monk, K Austin, S Ricketts — L Britton, A Robinson, O Tudur-Jones, S MacDonald (sub: A Forbes, 46) — L Knight (sub: L Trundle, 68), R Fallon (sub: A Akinfenwa, 90). Substitutes not used: B Murphy, T Williams.

BRENTFORD (4-4-2): S Nelson — K O’Connor, M Turner, A Frampton, S Tillen — J Smith, D Pratley, R Newman, J Tabb (sub: P Brooker, 84) — M Gayle, I Rankin (sub: A Bankole, 55). Substitutes not used: E Hutchinson, A Rhodes, J Lewis. Sent off: Nelson.

Referee: K Stroud.