Brentford produced a toothless display as Brighton cruised to a 2-0 victory to move into third place in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
Anthony Knockaert was a thorn in the side of Dean Smith's team all night and he opened the scoring midway through the first half after Ryan Woods and Maxime Colin got in each others' way.
Tomer Hemed ended his goal drought as he headed home from Beram Kayal's cross after some lax defending from the visitors.
Jamie Murphy capitalised on some loose play in possession to make it 3-0 in stoppage time and seal the win on a bad night for the Bees.
Brentford had looked lively in stages but were toothless up front with Lasse Vibe, in particular, struggling to get into the game as he feels the effects of playing matches for over 12 months.
David Stockdale, in the Brighton goal, had very little to do, although he did make an excellent save from Alan Judge in the opening stages.
Defensively, the Bees couldn't get to grips with the pacey Brighton attackers and were exposed on the counter attack far too often.
Yoann Barbet impressed in his third straight start after James Tarkowski's departure and Harlee Dean produced a strong performance alongside him.
On a positive note for Brentford, there was a long-awaited debut from Lewis Macleod, who came on in the closing stages.
However, for Dean Smith, it will be a long week of soul-searching ahead of the trip to Sheffield Wednesday.
