Brentford 2 Oldham 0
Uwe Rosler put one over his former team-mate Paul Dickov as in-form Brentford moved to within five points of the play-off places.
The pair are close friends from their time at Manchester City and Bees boss Rosler may have been tempted to thank Dickov for the gift his Oldham team handed the home side after only 63 seconds at Griffin Park.
Marcus Bean was left unmarked to head home Toumani Diagouraga’s long throw from the left, giving Brentford the perfect start.
Substitute Niall McGinn doubled the lead midway through the second half, firing into the bottom corner after Oldham failed to clear Sam Saunders’ right-wing corner.
The victory – Brentford’s fourth in a row – was rarely in doubt once Bean popped up for his second goal of the season.
They dominated the rest of the first half and might have had a penalty when Clinton Morrison, making his first start for the Bees, was flattened before the ball ran to Saunders, whose shot was tipped away by keeper Dean Bouzanis.
From the resulting corner by Saunders, Bouzanis tipped Clayton Donaldson’s header onto the post.
And Brentford were again denied by the woodwork when Saunders’ left-wing free-kick evaded everyone and ended up clipping the top of the bar.
Saunders missed a good chance early in the second half when he shot straight at Bouzanis, before Oldham winger Chris Taylor was stretchered off.
Despite that setback, the visitors finally began to impose themselves and were denied an equaliser by Richard Lee’s save from Oumare Tounkara.
Just as the Latics seemed to be finding a way into the game, they switched off at the other end and after Saunders’ delivery was not dealt with, Diagouraga teed up McGinn for the all-important second goal.
To their credit, Oldham did not give up and almost scored when Jean Yean M’Voto’s header from Robbie Simpson’s corner was cleared off the line by Shaleum Logan.
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This post was last modified on 05/04/2012