Charlton 3–0 Brentford
Brenford's misery continued as a Charlton side who had not previously won in three months comfortably brushed them aside at The Valley this afternoon.
A week is a long time in football, but it seems far longer ago that a brave Bees performance earned three points at Elland Road last Saturday.
Since then, the speculation surrounding manager Mark Warburton's future has thrown the club into turmoil, although they were unfortunate to go down all guns blazing to Watford on Tuesday night.
However, there was little evidence of that fighting spirit today, and whatever the wranglings behind the scenes, a man as proud as Warburton will have been ashamed by what a squad professing to back him 100 per cent served up.
There was a warning from the home side when former Addicks keeper David Button had to dives to his right to keep out Tony Watt, who was given the time and space to pick his spot from the edge of the area.
But it was not heeded, and midway through the first half Charlton took the lead when Igor Vetokele was again given the freedom of The Valley to pick out Johann Gudmundsson for a clinical finish.
It may have been a makeshift back four, but this was schoolboy defending from the Bees, and Button was again called upon to saves well from Gudmundsson after the hosts carved open the his back four once again.
An Andre Gray volley from an Alex Pritchard cross which was deflected over was all the Bees had to offer in a sorry first half, and it didn't get much better after the break.
Ten minute after the break, Charlton doubled their lead when Watt and Vetokele teamed up to make a mockery of the Brentford back four, the latter being left with a simple finish for 2-0.
Button then made a fine stop from Watt after Charlton sliced through once more, at which point Warburton decided he had seen enough and made a triple substitution.
All of the sudden it was the Bees on top, with a Jon Toral shot from edge of area deflected over and a Jonatha Douglas daisy-cutter from 30 yards out saved by home keeper Stephen Henderson, but still the visitors lacked any cutting edge.
Pritchard seemed their best best, with one long-ranger comfortable for Henderson, but is next effort, a cracking free-kick from the edge of the area, tipped over at full stretch by the Addicks number one.
Instead, Frederic Bulot latched onto a long ball forward to finish matters in injury time, and the Bees were left thankful that Bournemouth are still a week away, as coming across a more clinical side in their time of turmoil could really have been embarrassing.
BEES : Button, Odubajo, Dean, Craig, Bidwell, Diagouraga (Smith 58), Douglas, Pritchard, Jota (Toral 58), Gray, Dallas (Long 58). Subs not used: Bonham, Saunders, McCormack, Udumaga.
