Rhodes stars as Town smash Brentford
Brentford 0 Huddersfield Town 4
Jordan Rhodes tormented Brentford on his return to Griffin Park, scoring twice as Huddersfield ran riot.
Rhodes, who got seven goals for the Bees during a loan spell in 2009, was far too good for the home defence – and an out-of-sorts Karleigh Osborne in particular.
He set the ball rolling for the Terriers, nipping in between Osborne and Marcel Eger to net the opener on 36 minutes.
After the break, Lee Novak lobbed keeper Richard Lee for the all-important second goal and then crossed for Rhodes to score again.
An unchallenged Gary Roberts rifled in the fourth to round off a dismal afternoon for Uwe Rosler’s team, who have now lost three of their six home matches under the German.
It could have been even worse for them as Rhodes and team-mate Peter Clarke were both denied by the woodwork in a match Brentford could easily have lost by a bigger margin.
When Rhodes put Huddersfield into the lead, capitalising on Osborne’s hesitation to head home Liam Cooper’s left-wing cross, it came as no surprise.
The visitors had been well on top and did everything but score during a five-minute spell in which Brentford’s defence rode their luck.
It all started when Clarke headed Roberts’ free-kick inches wide – a near-miss that suddenly sparked the game into life.
Osborne then had a let-off when his scuffed attempt to pass back to Lee from the byline gifted the ball to Rhodes, whose low cross towards Alan Lee was well anticipated by Adam Thompson and the on-loan Watford right-back was able to clear the danger.
Rhodes had a header tipped over by Lee before the visitors twice went close to scoring from left-wing corners.
Roberts’ delivery for the first was headed against the post by the luckless Clarke and then ricocheted off Lee and out of the play.
It was a similar story from the resulting follow-up corner by Roberts, with Clarke again winning the ball in the air and Rhodes heading over from close range.
But Rhodes made no mistake when another lapse by Osborne allowed the Scotland Under-21 striker to net his fifth goal of the season.
Rhodes was temporarily denied his sixth when Lee pushed away his 25-yard strike as Huddersfield kept up the pressure on a Brentford side whose best moment of the first half was a shot wide by Niall McGinn, who cut in from the left and tried his luck from just outside the penalty area.
With his team having posed very little attacking threat, Rosler made a double substitution at the interval, replacing Kevin O’Connor and Marcus Bean with winger Myles Weston and fit-again midfielder Toumani Diagouraga.
It gave Brentford more width and Diagourara’s energy made his return a welcome one, but Rosler’s men still struggled to create clear-cut chances.
And they were vulnerable on the break, as shown when Roberts darted into the Bees half and found Rhodes, whose long-range drive beat Lee and smashed against the bar.
The hosts were fortunate on that occasion but their luck ran out on 70 minutes when Damien Johnson set up substitute Nokav, who made the most of yet more slack Bees defending and coolly lifted the ball over Lee.
McGinn squandered Brentford’s best chance by failing to score from the rebound after keeper Ian Bennett had parried Diagouraga’s shot, and that miss was punished when Rhodes headed in after great work by Novak on the right.
Rhodes wasn’t finished yet. He then sent a 30-yard piledriver against the post and with Lee on the floor, Roberts was able to wallop into the corner from seven yards to complete the rout.
