Report and reaction: Everton 0 Brentford 0 | OneFootball

Despite Christian Nørgaard's first-half red card, Brentford secured their first Premier League clean sheet and first away point of the season, as they drew 0-0 with Everton at Goodison Park.

Mark Flekken made some crucial saves to deny the Toffees, whilst his team-mates Ethan Pinnock and Nathan Collins also contributed to a solid defensive display for the Bees.

Thomas Frank named an unchanged team from the 3-2 win over Bournemouth at Gtech Community Stadium before the international break. Igor Thiago was named on the Bees' bench - his first involvement in a Premier League squad for the club.

Iliman Ndiaye had the first chance of the game, as he skilfully drove into the penalty area, before his shot was deflected over the bar.

The resulting corner fell to Idrissa Gueye on the edge of the box and, despite his his shot sailing wide of the post, it was directed on target by Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but an incredible stop from Flekken down to his left kept the scores level inside the opening five minutes.

A Calvert-Lewin header and another Gueye effort followed shortly after, with the Bees under the cosh in the opening stages.

Brentford's first chance of the game came from a Mathias Jensen long throw. It wasn't dealt with by Everton, with the ball falling to Keane Lewis-Potter, but he thrashed his effort across the face of the goal and out of play.

Another fine Flekken save followed on 25 minutes. He thwarted Calvert-Lewin again, as the striker was played in behind by Dwight McNeil and, from a tight angle, fired towards the near post - the Bees keeper was there to keep it out with his left boot.

McNeil had a go himself not long after when, again, he found himself in space on the edge of the box. His low drive looked destined for the bottom corner but for a slight nick from a Bees defender, which deflected it inches wide of the post.

Yoane Wissa had his first sniff at goal 10 minutes before half-time, when Mikkel Damsgaard found space in between the lines just inside the Everton half, before threading a brilliant pass through to the centre-forward. One-on-one with Jordan Pickford, Wissa aimed towards the bottom corner, but his effort was turned around the post by the foot of the England international.

With the end of the first period looming, a cross into the box was flicked on by Pinnock across the box and into a dangerous area. Nørgaard and Wissa both attacked it, with neither making contact.

However, VAR decided that Nørgaard's attempt to win the ball was dangerous, with his boot deemed high, having connected with Pickford, and, after referee Chris Kavanagh went to the screen to review the incident, he sent the Bees captain off.

Everton, expectedly with a man advantage, had large amounts of possession and territory throughout much of the second period.

Gueye tried his luck to break the deadlock, as he tested Flekken on 50 minutes with a long-range, dipping strike, but the Dutch keeper tipped it over his crossbar.

One of the best chances of the opening hour came Vitalii Mykolenko's way. Ndiaye picked up a loose cross at the back of the penalty area, before finding the Toffees left-back, who was charging towards the six-yard box. Despite meeting it, the defender couldn't keep it down from close range and his strike cleared the crossbar.

Brentford had a good chance of their own minutes later, when Jensen picked out Lewis-Potter with a delectable pass, which sent the winger in on goal. The former Hull City man beat his man, but his finish wasn't strong enough, before the rebound was fired over by Jensen.

Beto came on for Sean Dyche's side, forming a combative partnership with Calvert-Lewin, and it was the former who was next to test Flekken. McNeil's cross was met by the powerful striker, but Flekken claimed it well under his crossbar.

The Portuguese striker had another headed chance minutes later, this time from Ashley Young's cross - this one went just wide.

McNeil had multiple long-range efforts throughout the second half; the best of those was held by Flekken with five minutes to play.

A heroic block by Pinnock in additional time highlighted the Bees' defensive resilience, whilst some good hold-up play by Thiago on his Brentford debut helped run the clock down, securing the Bees' first clean sheet and away point of the season.

Everton: Pickford; Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko; Gueye, Doucoure (Mangala 72); Lindstrøm (Beto 72), McNeil, Ndiaye; Calvert-Lewin

Subs not used: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Harrison, O'Brien, Armstrong, Bates

Brentford: Flekken; van den Berg, Collins, Pinnock, Lewis-Potter; Janelt (Yarmoliuk 86), Nørgaard, Jensen; Mbeumo, Wissa (Thiago 71), Damsgaard (Schade 71)

Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Carvalho, Mee, Konak, Roerslev, Maghoma

Attendance: 38,915

Frank ‘very pleased’ with point at Goodison

Head coach Thomas Frank was happy with his side’s positive performance in the first half and their solidity in the second, as the Bees secured a draw at Goodison Park.

Frank said: “If you take the first half, before the red card, I was happy with a few things, I liked that we were brave and we tried to get out.

"We found some good situations and created a fantastic chance from that, which I was really pleased with.

“Second half, we defended fantastically: the mentality, character, work ethic, the way we defended the box with our bodies on the line and the principles we used, the way we defended low but still tried to go for it.

"I was very pleased with that.”

Collins: The lack of clean sheets has frustrated me - but we deserved one today

Brentford defender Nathan Collins admitted he is delighted to finally get the Bees’ first clean sheet of the season after a resilient performance on Saturday.

“It was tough, it wasn’t easy, the boys dug in,” he stated.

“We started off really well, playing some good football. We had that tough second half, it was a slog, but we did well with it."

He added: “[Christian] Nørgaard was gutted at half-time, we know how much he does for us, so that second half was for him, for everything he does.

“To get that first clean sheet is great, that’s been frustrating me! 95 per cent of games we’ve been defending well; that five per cent we’ve conceded scrappy goals.

“But we deserved that today.”