Brentford 4 Huddersfield Town 2: Bees outclass Wagner’s Terriers

The Bees totally outclassed Town in a one-sided first half which saw Sergi Canos, Lasse Vibe and Alan Judge give the scoreline an emphatic feel.

But the visitors took just seconds to signal their intent after the re-start when Joe Lolley smashed into the roof of the net to give David Wagner’s side fresh hope.

Judge snuffed any realistic hope of an unlikely fightback when he was bundled over in the box by Ben Chilwell and the referee pointed harshly to the spot, the Irishman dusting himself down to rifle home for 4-1.

Brentford were on the back foot for long spells in the second half, with substitute Nakhi Wells who replaced the hapless Ishmael Miller a constant thorn in the side.

Joel Lynch and Wells, twice, both scuffed efforts wide of the far post after wriggling past a Bees defence that looked flat after the exertions of the first half.

And when Kyle Dempsey capitalised on a Toumani Diagouraga slip to fire home deep into injury time, it gave the second half a more realistic scoreline.

It could not have started better for the Londoners as they went ahead after five minutes, Liverpool loanee Canos curling home after a delightful, incisive five man passing move on the edge of the box.

Midway through the half it was tow, James Tarkowski sending Vibe free with a perfectly weighted through ball for the Danish international to smash an unstoppable drive into the roof of the net from the edge of the box.

Judge made it three on the half hour with a well executed free kick almost from the touchline which sailed through a forest of legs to nestle inn the far corner.

Brentford were almost totally dominant and looked a class above the Yorkshireman, but it was a different story after the interval.

Wells wriggled free down the left flank and squeezed a ball back for Lolley to fire home from close range as the Terriers looked to deflate the Bees from the off.

If Brentford thought they could run up a cricket score, Huddersfield had other ideas and looked far more penetrative following a half-time talking to.

Brentford looked to hit the visitors on the break but for the first 15 minutes struggled to find any kind of foothold in the game as the Town midfield took control.

Lynch wasted a gilt-edged opportunity to make the hosts sweat but screwed his effort wide of the upright before Wells repeated the feat minutes later.

Brentford were still a threat though despite relinquishing possession, Robert Swift racing down the left flank to tee up Vibe who somehow failed to make a connection at the near post.

Maxime Colin linked well with Judge inside the box but leaned back to see his first-time effort sail agonisingly over the bar.

Wells found the outside of the post on 71 minutes after turning Tarkowski inside out before again firing wide with 10 minutes remaining.

In an end-to-end finale Judge fired over from the edge of the box as he went in search of the hat-trick and Jota was denied in a one-on-one with keeper Jed Steer.

Dempsey gave the scoreline some respectability late on in a half that would give Huddersfield fans some hope.

Terriers boss Wagner said of the penalty incident: “That was a turning point in the game. I was a long way away but the reaction of players on both sides and fans suggested it was not a penalty.

“In the first half we didn’t pass, lost possession of the ball too easily and had no movement. It was the worst display I’ve seen from us. If you play like that you don’t deserve the points.

“The first-half performance was not us but the second half was completely new.

“I told them that if you play badly in the first half no one says you can’t play well in the second. I told them to go out and show character and show that they are good players... which they did.

“If Nahki takes one or two of those chances we could have scored three or four and it might have been a different story but we will never know.”