Bamford nets as Brentford crash at Boro

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Middlesbrough 4 Brentford 0

A flat Brentford suffered their second heavy defeat in four days as Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford scored the first goal of his latest loan spell.

Middlesbrough had the better of the chances throughout and their captain Grant Leadbitter broke the deadlock on 34 minutes with a terrific strike from 35 yards.

Former Harrow Borough winger Albert Adomah doubled the lead early in the second half when he converted Emilio Nsue’s cross, and Bamford nodded in on 67 minutes from another Nsue delivery.

Middlesbrough played the last seven minutes with 10 men after Dean Whitehead saw red for a high challenge on Alan Judge, but they still managed to score a fourth through substitute Kike.

Brentford boss Mark Warburton made just one change from the side which lost to Norwich, with Jota returning to the starting line-up for the injured Stuart Dallas.

Middlesbrough were on the front foot from the off and Bamford, making the first league start of his loan at the Riverside, flashed a shot just over the top in the opening seconds.

Brentford had a fair chunk of the ball in the first half but Boro continued to create chances. Bees goalkeeper David Button collected a header from Belgian striker Jelle Vossen before watching an Nsue chip drift over the crossbar.

Adomah, who spent a couple of years at Harrow while a student, was lively throughout and sent an effort just wide.

However, Brentford couldn’t keep Boro’ at bay for long, as Leadbitter drilled a superb shot from distance beyond Button.

The midfielder almost repeated the trick just before the break but this time his shot flew over the bar.

Middlesbrough doubled the lead five minutes after half-time. Vossen fed Nsue and his centre was turned home by a sliding Adomah.

Brentford’s only two shots on target came from Andre Gray and Jota but the visitors never really looked like getting back into the game.

And, shortly after Adomah had fired into the side netting, Bamford opened his Middlesbrough account as he headed in from Nsue’s cross.

Button denied Nsue with a fine save and the Bees would have had hopes of at least bagging an equaliser when Whitehead was dismissed.

But short-staffed Middlesbrough added a gloss to the scoreline as Spaniard Kike, on the pitch for only 10 minutes, netted from Ben Gibson’s pass.

Brentford (4-1-4-1): Button; McCormack, Dean, Tarkowski, Bidwell; Douglas; Odubajo (Toral 75), Pritchard (Tebar 65), Jota (Proschwitz 65), Judge; Gray.
Subs: Bonham, Craig, Moore, Betinho.

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