Brentford 0 Sheffield United 2
An error by Simon Moore helped Sheffield United bring Brentford’s excellent recent home form to an abrupt end.
Ched Evans scored both goals for the promotion-chasing Blades and his second was a gift from the young keeper, whose scuffed goal-kick fell straight to him.
Evans emphatically punished the mistake, rounding Moore and tapping into an unguarded net.
The striker had put United ahead after only six minutes, when he collected Chris Porter’s flick-on and wrongfooted Jake Bidwell before firing home.
Brentford suffered another early blow when playmaker Sam Saunders was taken off, before an astonishing miss by Evans temporarily spared the Bees further damage.
Evans nipped in after an appalling mix-up between Moore and centre-backs Leon Legge and Harlee Dean only to shoot wide of an open goal.
Moore, preferred to Richard Lee in goal, quickly atoned by producing a fine instinctive save to keep out Porter’s header from Will Hoskins’ left-wing cross.
But Moore’s mishap five minutes into the second half was an opportunity Evans did not waste.
It knocked the stuffing out of a team that had won their previous three matches at Griffin Park, netting five against Wycombe and four against Carlisle.
On-loan forward Saido Berahino went closest to pulling a goal back, testing Steve Simonsen with a 25-yard effort the United keeper did well to hold.
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This post was last modified on 10/03/2012