Brentford 5 Eastleigh 1
Brentford ruined their former manager Martin Allen’s hopes of pulling off an FA Cup giant-killing with an ultimately comfortable victory.
Tom Field had a day to remember, bagging his first two senior goals, and Jota made his first appearance since returning from a year on loan as Brentford eased into the fourth round, despite the absence of West Ham transfer target Scott Hogan, who was resting a gluteal muscle injury.
Allen received a warm reception from home fans before kick-off but his old team wasted no time in putting National League Eastleigh in their place, as they went 3-0 up with barely a quarter of the match played.
Yoann Barbet calmly stroked home a ninth-minute penalty after ex-Arsenal stopper Graham Stack had upended Lasse Vibe – a three-minute injury delay involving Eastleigh’s Gavin Hoyte not enough to put the full-back off his spot-kick.
Seven minutes later, Field ghosted onto a delightful cross from the right by Romaine Sawyers to glance in a header, and moments after Eastleigh had ventured into the Bees box to threaten for the first time, Vibe polished off a swift counter-attack by putting away a neat pass from Josh McEachran.
Eastleigh defender Ayo Obileye reduced the deficit, stabbing in from close range after Dan Bentley had made a hash of trying to clear a corner swung into the near post, but Field tucked in his second under Stack on 38 minutes to restore the three-goal advantage.
And in first-half injury time, Sawyers fired in a beauty from 25 yards after Vibe had laid back a pass from McEachran.
Allen, who could only name four players on the bench because of injuries, suspensions and cup-tied squad members, simply did not have the means to make a game of it.
Brentford: Bentley; Egan, Dean (Mepham 80), Barbet; Woods; Colin (Clarke ht), McEachran, Yennaris (Jota 61), Field; Sawyers; Vibe.
Subs not used: Bonham, Saunders, Hofmann, McCormack.
This post was last modified on 08/01/2017