Brentford 2-1 Stoke City: Ivan Toney & Vitaly Janelt goals complete Bees comeback

Ivan Toney scored his 25th Championship goal of the season as second-placed Brentford fought back to beat Stoke and move within four points of leaders Norwich.

Thomas Frank’s side were lethargic in the first half, but levelled in style after the break through Vitaly Janelt’s arrowed strike into the top corner from nearly 25 yards.

Stoke hit the bar with Jordan Cousins’ lob, but left west London empty-handed after striker Toney slotted past Angus Gunn from Bryan Mbeumo’s nod-down.

Victory for Brentford, coupled with defeats for promotion rivals Watford and Swansea, left them three points clear of third place, while 10th-placed Stoke lost ground on the play-offs.

The Bees were caught cold in the opening minute which seemed to affect them for the rest of the first half, and Stoke could have been further ahead had Raya not made himself big to keep out Nick Powell from close range.

But when Germany Under-21 midfielder Janelt lashed home after the ball broke to him, the Bees woke up, with Sergi Canos’ cut-back almost finding Toney, and Saman Ghoddos forcing Gunn to tip over from 30 yards.

Michael O’Neill’s Stoke pressed surprisingly high throughout, but other than Cousins’ audacious effort they struggled to have much of an attacking impact in the second half and they are now winless in nine away league matches, losing their past three.

And the Championship’s leading scorer Toney – making his first start after a minor ankle knock – could not be kept quiet, using his predatory instinct to score the winner.

Reaction – ‘There’s no-one better than Toney’

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank:

“In all seasons but especially this one, every team will go through a dip at a certain stage, but it’s the ones that can handle it best that will be successful.

“In the second half we went from level five to level nine. We were quicker moving forward, we took the initiative, and we had a much bigger mentality and attitude.

“Ivan wants to be better every day and he knows instinctively what he wants to do in those situations. It is down to him but also the work behind the scenes.”

Stoke manager Michael O’Neill:

“Toney has proved there is not anyone better than him in this league. It’s a great finish and good anticipation and that’s what separates us in this game.

“In this league you need someone who is going to get into double figures and they have done a great job here and have replaced one prolific goalscorer with another.

“It seems like we’re taking a couple of steps forward and then a couple back, but we don’t want to be a team that settles for a comfortable position in the league.

“We didn’t anticipate we would gain promotion this year but we wanted to challenge for the top six. We don’t want to end up with nothing to play for.”