Brentford beat Sheff Wed to end losing streak and stay second

Brentford ended their three-game losing run with victory over struggling Sheffield Wednesday to maintain their place behind Norwich in the Championship’s top two.

However, it took until the 74th minute for the Bees to give themselves breathing space, Saman Ghoddos sliding Mbeumo’s pass wide of Owls keeper Joe Wildsmith.

Mads Bech Sorensen headed in a curling free-kick, despite Wildsmith’s attempt to palm it away, to seal victory late on and give the scoreline a slightly flattering look.

Wednesday, who had decent periods of possession, failed to take advantage of their hosts’ stuttering start when Barry Bannan’s shot was beaten behind by David Raya and Tom Lees headed wide.

Chances after that were limited, though Liam Palmer’s solo run ended with a swerving shot drifting wide and Bees keeper Raya claimed a couple of tricky crosses from wide positions.

They were also unhappy with a tackle by Henrik Dalsgaard, a cynical ‘halting’ tackle on substitute Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, which led to him going off.

This defeat is damaging to their survival hopes as it keeps them second from bottom, three points from safety, and also stretches their losing run to three matches.

Although Thomas Frank’s Brentford responded to their mini-slump with this victory, a side missing the key presence of injured players Pontus Jansson, Christian Norgaard and Rico Henry, plus with 24-goal Ivan Toney on the bench, lacked the same rhythm that took them on a 21-game unbeaten run.

Their early passing and movement was nervy and stilted as a confident Wednesday closed them down promptly, but having got themselves on the scoreboard midway through the opening period, the Bees slowly imposed themselves on the game.

Ghoddos missed a good chance when he rolled wide, but the late introductions of Toney, Josh Dasilva and Emiliano Marcondes gave them a more regular balance to the line-up, and coincided with a sharper edge in front of goal to secure the win.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank told BBC Radio London:

“We win or learn, today we won and we showed that we’ve learned from some of the other games.

“The most ‘bad’ performance we have given this year was the Coventry game, but this was back to ‘normal’ defensive standards. We showed this most of the season, we gave little away.

“We know we have a good structure, and want to press high, press forward and all that, but today it was simple – about getting on the ball, aggressive pressure and win your duel. We did that to perfection.

“It was positive that Ivan [Toney] could come off the bench. I felt though that Bryan Mbeumo could run in behind and arrive in the box to score a goal.”

Sheffield Wednesday interim boss Neil Thompson told BBC Radio Sheffield:

“At the end of the day we’ve lost a football match, one I thought we were more than in.

“We conceded a really sloppy goal before half-time, one that bobbled around the box and we needed to get our foot through it when they’re slinging the ball in and the second half, we conceded two more sloppy goals from our point of view.

“For large parts of the game we passed the ball well, we were braver than we were at the weekend and although I know we didn’t create many chances, we were better in possession.

“But the facts are we were beaten. It’s another game gone. We’ve got to pick ourselves up for the weekend.”