Bees are beaten by ruthless Norwich

Brentford 0 Norwich 3

Brentford suffered their first home defeat in the Championship – and manager Mark Warburton was left fuming.

With Norwich ahead through Alex Tettey’s 68th-minute opener, Alex Pritchard was brought down in the area seven minutes later.

What appeared to be a clear penalty for the home side was not given and Norwich broke down the other end and Cameron Jerome headed in the first of his two goals.

But there was nothing contentious about his second and Norwich’s third, which he smashed home late on.

Brentford dominated the first half but were undone after the break by a team whose victory saw them return to the top of the table.

As the interval approached, the Bees rained shots at John Ruddy and he produced a superb save to beat away Alan McCormack’s drive towards the top corner.

Warburton had moved McCormack into midfield and Moses Odubajo to right-back, and Odubajo almost made a goal in the first minute when his deep cross was headed over by Pritchard.

Andre Gray and Stuart Dallas could also both have scored when they fired shots just wide of the target before half-time.

But Norwich, relegated from the Premier League last season, noticeably improved and Jerome, Natahn Redmond and Bradley Johnson all went close before the opener.

Defender James Tarkowski gave the ball ball away on the edge of his own penalty area, and Wes Hoolahan found Redmond in acres of space to score.

It was Jos Hooiveld’s challenge on Pritchard that had Warburton protesting to the fourth official and his anger was compounded when a swift counter-attack found the lurking Jermone inside the box.

Jerome applied the finish and then found more space from distance to send a vicious drive past keeper David Button for Norwich’s third.

Brentford (4-2-3-1): Button; Odubajo, Dean, Tarkowski, Bidwell; Douglas, McCormack, Pritchard, Judge, Dallas (Betinho 77); Gray (Proschwitz 77)
Subs not used: Bonham, Craig, Tebar, Jota, Toral.

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