NATHAN Collins and girlfriend Ella Jayne Howarth dined out to mark her birthday with the Irish ace sharing two photos from the evening.
The pair are in a long-term relationship with Collins captioning one pic ‘I love you’.
The photo in question[/caption]
The other one was captioned ‘Happy birthday to this special girl’[/caption]
It was an excellent weekend overall for the 23-year-old centre-back as he played all 90 minutes as Brentford recorded a clean sheet in their 1-0 derby win over West Ham.
He had to battle international teammate Evan Ferguson who came on for his new club in the second half.
And while the Kildare native ultimately won the war, Ferguson looked sharper than had been expected given his lack of minutes with Brighton this season.
In one promising moment he teed Mohammed Kudus up on the edge of the six-yard box with a precise cut-back, however, the Ghanaian fluffed what was a bit of a sitter.
On the day Graham Potter hoped to show off his attacking riches, West Ham’s woeful defence let him down.
A first half of comically calamitous defending from the Hammers allowed Kevin Schade to inflict a fourth defeat in six games under Potter.
There has been clear progress in some areas since he replaced Julen Lopetegui last month, but this was a significant step backwards.
There was a rare whiff of optimism around the London Stadium.
Potter had a gap of two weeks since their last game and was able to start the trio of Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta and Kudus for the first time since he was appointed.
While it is an attractive attacking line, the West Ham defence remains substandard and sapped the hope from the stands after just four minutes.
A soft challenge from Emerson allowed Bryan Mbeumo to nod Yoane Wissa’s ball onto Schade – before a calamity between Alphonse Areola and the hapless Konstantinos Mavropanos unfolded.
Areola got a foot to the forward’s first effort, sending it looping towards goal.
Mavropanos came careering in, hooked the ball off the line but straight back to Schade, whose strike just made it over the line before Areola got a glove to it.
This is nothing new in Stratford, though. Schade’s was the 10th goal West Ham have conceded in the opening 10 minutes this season.
Ireland’s two brightest talents in an aerial duel on Saturday[/caption]
After Areola saved a low Mbeumo shot, only the offside flag saved the Hammers from another cock-up.
Paqueta passed straight to Mbeumo, free to roam on the edge of the box, who picked out Wissa to finish – though the forward was just off.
West Ham looked nervous and were pinned back, unable to do anything meaningful with the ball.
There was no stemming the Brentford chances as the visitors continued to plunder the wide open gaps left by their generous hosts.
Wissa sent one high and wide before Schade rattled the foot of the post.
Again, the officials were covering for West Ham’s incompetence as the finest of offside calls against Kristoffer Ajer ruled out another Wissa goal upon review.
