Brentford boss Dean Smith was left rueing his side’s missed opportunities as the Bees ended 2016 with a goalless draw at home to Norwich City.

Canaries striker Cameron Jerome missed several chances, having a close-range effort blocked before shinning one straight at the keeper just before the break.

The striker didn’t find his shooting boots at half-time, blazing a gilt-edged chance into stands on 73 minutes before a straight red for Robbie Brady turned the tide.

The Bees looked to press home their advantage but were denied by a fantastic last-ditch tackle by Ryan Bennett at the death.

“I certainly didn’t think it was a Sky classic!” said Smith.

“It surprised me, I’ve never seen an Alex Neil team play three at the back, so that took me by surprise when I got the teamsheet.

“I thought much of the game was two teams cancelling each other out because of the matching systems.

“The unfortunate thing for me is I don’t think we created enough chances. We never did enough to win the game and the two best chances fell to them, which they didn’t take. I thought it was a pretty even game.”

The first chance fell to Jerome on seven minutes, but the striker headed Brady’s cross straight at Daniel Bentley.

John Egan unleashed Maxime Colin down the right on 13 minutes, but Sulley Kaikai snatched at his cut-back and John Ruddy saved comfortably.

Jerome had another chance on 33 minutes after Brady exchanged passes with Nelson Oliveira and found the striker at the back post, but Andreas Bjelland blocked his shot at close range.

Brady found Jerome once more on 42 minutes, but he scuffed the ball into the turf after outpacing Bjelland.

Brentford went close on 69 minutes, when Kaikai’s dangerous free-kick was nodded back across goal by Josh Egan, but Tom Field’s header ballooned onto the roof of the net.

Norwich countered immediately, a neat one-two with Oliveira playing Jerome through, but the striker dragged his shot wide.

Jerome then made a mess of the best chance of the match on 73 minutes.

Ivo Pinto bombed down the right before pulling it back to Jerome on the penalty spot, but he wastefully fired over with the goal begging.

Bentley pulled off a superb save with his legs minutes later to deny substitute Jacob Murphy an immediate impact.

The momentum shifted on 80 minutes when Brady saw a contentious straight red for a challenge on Woods that was reckless if not malicious, much to the Irishman’s disbelief.

Ryan Bennett appeared to bring down Hogan in the box on 90 minutes, but the defender just got a touch on the ball to deny him a chance and secure a point.

The draw sees Norwich end 2016 languishing in 12th place – with Brentford in 15th -  and with rumours continuing to circle about his future at the club, Canaries boss Alex Neil admits he is more concerned as to how the unrest will affect his team’s performances.

"I’ll be honest with you, my main worry is how it affects the players," Neil said.

"For me, as a manager, sometimes you’re dead if you do and dead if you don’t.

"You’re never going to please all the people all the time. What you’ve got to do is do your best. I just hope it doesn’t affect the players.

"You can’t feel sorry for yourself, you just need to roll your sleeves up and keep going.

"My overriding emotion is disappointment because I thought we deserved to win it. I thought we did more than enough to win the game."

Read more on Brentford each week in The Football League Paper