Colchester United 4 Brentford 1
Brentford's promotion party came to a juddering halt with a 4-1 hammering at Colchester United this afternoon.
There was little sign of what was to come early on when a 35 yard pile driver of a free kick from Jonathan Douglas was pushed away by home keeper Sam Walker.
But Colchester, who were still battling against relegation, served notice of their intent when David Button was forced to make a good low stop from Freddie Sears after the former West Ham man found space to shoot from the edge of the area.
And two goals in as many minutes around the half hour mark put the hosts firmly in control, former Bee Marcus Bean nodding his new side in front after beating Tony Craig to a Brian Wilson free kick from the right, before an Alex Wynter header from a corner doubled Colchester's advantage.
Brentford looked for a way back into the game as Douglas just failed to make a proper connection with a delightful chipped through ball from Alan Judge, but instead the hosts made it 3-0 when Alan McCormack shoved Sanchez Watt off the ball as the Bees attempted to clear a corner, and Sears clinically fired home from the spot.
Stuart Dallas pulled one back in first half stoppage time with an excellent first time strike from the edge of the area after the ball was played back to him, but any thoughts of a comeback were quickly extinguished by Colchester after the break.
Gavin Massey should have done better when allowed a free run on Button, but Sears grabbed his second and the home side's fourth after latching onto a weak back header from James Tarkowski to round Button and tap the ball into an empty net.
Brentford's hopes of making a fight of it came and went with 15 minutes left when Judge was brought down just inside the area and took the spot kick himself, hitting it low to the left of Walker, but the Colchester keeper guessed right to dive to his right and keep it out.
The only thing for the travelling fans to cheer in the closing stages was the late appearances as a substitute of Kevin O'Connor for his 499th appearance in a Bees shirt.
BEES: Button, McCormack (O'Connor 83), Craig, Tarkowski, Yennaris (Clark 80, Douglas, Saville, Judge, Donaldson, Trotta (Adam 58), Dallas. Subs not used: Lee, Reeves, Diagouraga, Grigg.
