Ivan Toney scored two goals for the third game in a row to secure Brentford the win at Sheffield Wednesday.
The forward continues to shine in the Championship and led his side once more at Hillsborough, scoring an early tap-in before heading in the winner before half-time.
Callum Paterson had levelled with his first goal for the Owls, but his side struggled to create opportunities against a stubborn visiting defence.
Story of the match
Toney struck first after just seven minutes, with a goal out of the blue. Henrik Dalsgaard aimed a firm strike at Cameron Dawson and the Wednesday goalkeeper spilled the ball out in front of him, with Toney’s sharp instincts seeing him make the follow-up run and get the tap-in.
Brentford looked very menacing on the break and Toney might have had a second goal earlier on, but he struck the side netting from a tough angle after Saman Ghoddos, on loan from Amiens and one of two players making a first league start for the club, had played him free.
Bryan Mbeumo also went close after stepping inside Joost van Aken with ease, but moments later the home side were level. They had sent out a warning when Adam Reach forced the first save from David Raya from a tight angle, but the goalkeeper could do nothing when Paterson outmuscled Pontus Jansson to nod in Kadeem Harris’s cross.
But Wednesday were unable to push on, and parity only lasted five minutes. The other new starter, Vitaly Janelt, a midfielder signed from Bochum in the summer, provided the corner from which Toney glanced in a free header at the near post.
And only Dawson prevented it from being 3-1 at half-time, making himself big to block Mathias Jensen’s shot after the Dane was played in by some exquisite football involving a deft Toney flick and an inch-perfect Ghoddos through ball.
Skipper Jansson limped off just before the hour mark for Brentford, by which time four substitutions had been made already with Mbeumo swapped for Sergi Canos and Wednesday bringing on both Joey Pelupessy and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru in an attempt to change the course of the game.
Paterson had his hands on his head when he failed to divert a Barry Bannan ball past Raya from close range, although the flag was raised anyway, but generally the Owls failed to create clear-cut chances from a more positive period of the contest.
Brentford began to rediscover some of their potency in the final quarter, and Toney had good chances to get a hat-trick, particularly when smartly pulling away from Aden Flint only to steer Canos’s square ball wide. He also came agonisingly close when curling the wrong side of the post after a great run from the right wing.
Wednesday pushed hard in the closing stages but, as all match, could create very little as they failed to make further gains on their negative points tally at the bottom of the table.
Takeaways
Goals will be shared eventually
While Toney rightly gets the plaudits for his remarkable run of goalscoring form, it's worth noting that he is the only player to have scored in the league for Brentford at all in the past month.
Last season one of their strengths was having the goals shared out between the three members of their destructive strikeforce, and they do not want that to change in favour of relying on one man.
However, the evidence from this performance suggests that should be nothing to worry about, with his all-round work and link-up play impressing almost as much as his finishing.
Luongo a big miss
Massimo Luongo missed out for Sheffield Wednesday through injury and his presence was missed in a first half in which Wednesday were too often sliced apart with ease.
His defensive contribution, whether in midfield or at centre-back as he was against Birmingham City last time out, has been pivotal in their more solid performances at the start of this season.
With Luongo joining Dominic Iorfa, Tom Lees and Chey Dunkley on the sidelines, their defensive cover has been stretched to the limit and it may have been a decisive factor in this game.
Man of the match - Ivan Toney (Brentford)
Toney is now the top scorer across England’s top four divisions in 2020 with 17 goals, haven taken his scintillating form for Peterborough United into the Championship.
His sixth and seventh league goals in the past four games secured this Brentford win, with the first showing his first showing great striker’s instincts and the second his ability to escape a defender.
He was seriously elusive throughout for Wednesday’s defence, always very sharp in getting away from his marker and always involved. Brentford’s recruitment has been spot on once more.