Brentford 0 Wolves 3
Brentford had their 19-game unbeaten run emphatically ended and were knocked off the top of the table by promotion rivals Wolves.
The Bees were beaten by two sucker punches in a fiercely intense clash – the first coming on the stroke of half-time when James Henry curled home into the far corner.
Brentford had been the better side and came out stronger in the second period, but they were left shell-shocked again when Michael Jacobs finished off a swift Wolves breakaway.
And Jacobs sealed a vital win in the promotion hunt for Kenny Jackett’s side when he beat David Button from distance late on.
Brentford had not lost since October and their first defeat since Mark Warburton took over as manager sees them slip out of the automatic promotion places altogether.
A poor Griffin Park pitch, battered by the recent storms that forced the Bristol City game to be postponed, hampered both sides’ passing game and made for a scrappy affair.
Despite dominating possession, the hosts managed only speculative shots on goal and they tested the hands of Carl Ikeme just once in the first half through an Alan Judge free-kick.
Wolves were dangerous on the break and a last-ditch tackle from Jonathan Douglas was needed to deny Henry before he scored from the subsequent throw-in.
Henry received the ball wide on the right and curled a left-footed cross-shot into the far corner to send the 1600 Wolves fans into raptures behind the goal.
The Bees pushed for an equaliser and a screamer from Judge whistled past the far post on 66 minutes.
But a superb through-ball from Nouha Dicko left Jacobs with just the keeper to beat and he poked home Wolves’ second before curling in a third from the edge of the box with five minutes remaining.
Brentford (4-3-3): Button; McCormack, Craig, Dean, Bidwell; Forshaw, Douglas, Saville (Grigg 86); Donaldson, Trotta, Judge
Subs not used: Lee, Reeves, O’Connor, Dallas, Tarkowski, Yennaris.
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This post was last modified on 22/02/2014
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Still plenty of games to go and many points to play for!
Before the game I told myself that if we lost today (and I feared we would) it would not define our season, there would still be everything to play for. This also applies to Brentford. Great runs all have to come to an end. IMHO opinion you're better than Orient. Automatic promotion for Wolves and Bees, maybe PNE will win the playoffs.