A rejuvenated Brentford made it two wins from two games with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Championship table-proppers Bolton Wanderers at Griffin Park this evening.
Nico Yennaris’ opener and Lasse Vibe’s brace sent the Bees on their way, before Zach Clough struck a consolation penalty for the doomed Lancashire side – who will be relegated if they lose to Derby on Saturday - with 20 minutes remaining.
The gulf in class between the two sides was obvious from the whistle; Vibe, Judge and Barbet all went close inside ten minutes, before Judge hit the crossbar with a wild cross-cum-shot from the right wing.
It took Brentford 17 minutes to make their dominance count, when Ryan Woods guided Judge’s pass into the path of Nico Yennaris who fired home his second goal in as many games from just inside the area.
Harlee Dean almost paid the price for his miscued pass when Josh Vela’s shot shaved the edge of the post two minutes later, but Vibe doubled the lead just before the half-hour when he poked past a disorganised Bolton defence – three of whom were under 24.
And the Dane capped off a stunning week in front of goal ten minutes before half-time when he leapt above Alex Finney to nod home his second of the night, and tenth of the season from Alan Judge’s inch-perfect cross.
It wasn’t quite an ‘all guns blazing’ approach from Brentford in the second half as they looked content to see out the game in the driving seat; Saunders hit a volley over before Alan McCormack stung the palms of Amos with a 35-yard drive.
Wanderers had failed to record an away way so far in this campaign, and offered precious little in the way of concrete attempts; that didn’t stop Clough, Vela and Trotter forcing their way into threatening positions – albeit to no avail.
With 20 minutes remaining they netted a consolation through Clough’s placed penalty after McCormack had tripped Kaiyne Woolery but that was the closest the Whites came to troubling David Button in the Brentford goal.
Scott Hogan replaced Lasse Vibe to make his second appearance since returning from injury with ten minutes remaining and the Bees held out for a win that all but guarantees their Championship status for another season.
