Scott Hogan scored his first goal of the season as Brentford claimed a second home win in four days at the expense of Nottingham Forest, who were reduced to 10-men in the final stages.
The striker, who scored seven goals in seven games at the end of last season, bundled the ball home just before the half-hour mark.
The Bees had to endure a second half surge from the visitors but held on as Perquis was dismissed for two bookable offences before Dan Bentley made a superb save from Britt Assombalonga in the dying seconds.
Below are five talking points to emerge from the contest at Griffin Park.
Hogan goal drought is finally over
An incredible goal tally after his return from injury last season meant Brentford fans were slightly worried when the goals didn’t flow as they had done before at the start of this season.
He notched once in pre-season, in a friendly versus Vfl Bochum, but despite a return of seven goals in just 163 minutes in 2015/16, not one of the first three games of the season featured a goal from the former Rochdale frontman.
Yet the desire to add to his tally was clear to see; lightning quick reactions and an insistence on forcing central defenders into mistakes proved that the Griffin Park crowd wouldn’t have too much longer to wait.
And indeed that did all change on Tuesday evening when he and Macleod both had shots well saved by Stephen Henderson, before the 24 year-old tapped the loose ball over the line from point blank range. Talk about effective poaching…
Four-in-a-row
They were the days of old when Ken Coote and Ron Greenwood graced the Griffin Park turf, but the Bees tonight won four second-tier games for the first time since 1951.
But the club record from that year still stands, and the Bees must go two better in beating both Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End in the next month if they hope to achieve.
At this rate they look like doing so – confidence is flowing and having put Ipswich to the sword on Saturday, two clean sheets in a row is pretty good going. But what provides even better reading is the fact that, in beating both Cardiff City (2-1) and Fulham (3-0) in the final two games of last season, this victory means Dean Smith’s men have conceded just one goal in that stretch of games.
Lewis Macleod injury-scare
The last thing any Brentford fan wants right now is Lewis Macleod to be injured and alarm bells sounded just 12 minutes in when ex-Fulham midfielder Pajtim Kasami brought down the Scot with a harsh challenge for which he was lucky to escape a booking.
Macleod gingerly returned to his feet a few minutes later but seemed to clutch his ankle a number of times after he had taken a shot, each of which had obviously lacked pace.
His well-documented injury hell since signing from Rangers in the final few days of 2014 seems to be over, but with this in mind, Dean Smith would have been forgiven for taking the midfielder out of the fray, but his attacking threat grew. He bent a 20-yard free-kick wide of the mark just before half-time and hit the crossbar minutes into the second period; he remained on the field until the 82nd minute.
Bonham injury
An injury to goalkeeper Jack Bonham meant Dean Smith was forced to name B team summer signing Dominic Kurasik on the bench for the visit of Nottingham Forest.
The 19 year-old stopper made the move south in pre-season after coming through the ranks at Premier League side Stoke City and is eligible to play for either the Australian or Polish national team.
Back-up keeper Bonham – who had incidentally tweaked his back would have had to wait for his full league debut for the Bees anyway; the defeat at Exeter in the League Cup last week was his only likely shot between the sticks until the FA Cup third round in January 2017.
Smith’s late changes
Substitutions before the 70th minute are becoming something of a rare sighting for Brentford recently.
In the defeat to Exeter last week, excluding Alan McCormack’s removal due to injury, Scott Hogan was brought on with 13 minutes of normal time to play and against Ipswich the lineup remained unchanged until Sam Saunders’ introduction on 67 minutes.
Smith began with an identical lineup against Forest and waited until the 82nd minute to again bring on Saunders. While it shows the fitness of the players at his disposal is admirable, a second session of 90 minutes in four days will likely test some players’ mettle.
That said, making a few last minute changes helps to waste a little bit of time and ensure a narrow victory like this one gets over the line with no mishaps.
