Hat-trick hero: Joe Hardy

Joe Hardy hit a hat-trick against his former club as Brentford B won 5-2 at Manchester City earlier today.

The Bees signed the youngster on a three-year deal from City back in March - and he showed his old club just what they are missing today.

The U18 year old, who came through the ranks at The Emirates side, notched a treble while Bradley Clayton and Herson Alves also netted for the Bees.

Back when they signed Hardy, Brentford's head of football operations, Robert Rowan, said: "Joe is a player the scouting department and I have been monitoring for quite some time.

"He’s an instinctive centre forward who is constantly looking to create opportunities for himself or his team mates by getting in good attacking positions.

"This season he’s scored 12 goals and provided six assists from 11 starts for Manchester City’s U18s, which is an impressive record for any player, and inevitably his performances created interest from other Premier League clubs."

The senior Bees then completed a fine day for the club by beating Millwall 1-0 at Griffin Park to bag a first home league win of the season.