Bryan Mbeumo does not miss penalties. His career record is now 10 scored from 10 attempts, so no wonder Yoane Wissa felt confident in the 66th minute when Mbeumo began his run-up to the spot. So confident was Wissa that he began celebrating before Mbeumo had even reached the ball, running across goalkeeper Dean Henderson’s eyeline towards the Brentford fans with arms aloft. Mbeumo did not let him down, Henderson diving low for a ball heading in the other direction.

Admittedly around 25,000 people had by then witnessed an unofficial Mbeumo penalty miss, hitting the post minutes before the opening goal only for VAR Darren England to intervene. Marc Guéhi was guilty of encroachment, the miss was scrubbed from the record and Mbeumo’s perfect run continued.

But it was the premature celebration that really caught the eye, Wissa setting off during the time of stillness and silence which precedes a penalty. The bold move risked immediate embarrassment and brutal online comeuppance. Despite a late scare when Crystal Palace debutant Romain Esse scored with his first touch for the club, Wissa’s gamble paid off.

Was this the new frontier of marginal gains, expert mind games, or a triumph of manifestation? Whatever, it worked. Brentford have been lauded for their creativity at set-pieces and, as a distraction technique, it certainly beats old-fashioned approaches such as pointing to a corner or attempting to frighten the goalkeeper with a series of rude words. Mbeumo and Wissa celebrated together in front of the travelling support, as if toasting a well-executed plan.

Had Wissa simply felt assured of his team-mates success or was this a training ground ploy? “They’re very good friends, they know each other very well, so probably a bit of both,” said Thomas Frank. Things improved further for his side when Kevin Schade headed in Mikkel Damsgaard’s astute cross, two flashes of well-executed competence to settle a previously drab game.

It was enlivened further when Palace debutant Esse applied a fearless finish on his club debut, teeing up a more lively conclusion. When Eberechi Eze sent a free kick over the bar in injury time, however, the air went out of Palace and Brentford hung on for only their second win in 10 games.

This was 11th vs 12th at the beginning of play – just it was when it concluded – and the first hour of the game was as exciting as that billing. The weather had potential to lift any mid-table ennui, breezy enough to make keeping the ball still for corners a chore and so wet the Palace Crystals cheerleading squad broke out their rarely seen waterproof jackets. On the pitch where David Beckham scored his halfway line lob in 1996, we might have had a wind-assisted sequel with more opportunistic hoofs in the direction of the goal, but today’s coaching doctrines forbid anything so crass.

So it was a first half of frustration for both sides, Palace sending most attacks of worth through Eze but the crowd becoming tetchy about a perceived lack of urgency. Brentford initially struggled to string more than two consecutive passes together in Palace’s half, with Mikkel Damsgaard over-run in central areas by Will Hughes.

Gradually the visitors established a foothold, largely thanks to Mbeumo’s masterful judgment of what is required. Sensibly cautious at trickier times for his team, hassling and pressing when they felt more assured. He went close with a free-kick, as did Wissa with a shot from the edge of the box manoeuvred from an unpromising position.

An Eze free-kick in the second half caught the wall on its curved path to the left, deflecting it on to the right-hand post. But it was Maxence Lacroix’s clumsy kick on Nathan Collins in the box that prised open the game, giving the multi-talented Mbeumo his penalty and the chance to do what he does best.