Brentford 2-4 Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town's Daryl Murphy scored his 15th and 16th Championship goals of the season against Brentford

Two goals from Daryl Murphy helped Ipswich beat Brentford and keep hold of second place in the Championship table.

Murphy put Town ahead inside the first 20 seconds, with a close-range finish following Paul Anderson's pass, before he rounded David Button for his second.

Anderson added a third, converting a cross from former Bees winger Jay Tabb.

Sam Saunders scored twice for Brentford - a deflected effort and a close-range strike - either side of Tommy Smith's calm finish, which secured the win.

Brentford began the day in third but fell behind to Murphy's first goal, which, at 19 seconds, was the quickest in the Championship so far this season.

Ipswich were on their way to extending their unbeaten league run to 10 games when Murphy, the Championship's top goalscorer with 16 league goals, grabbed his second of the match, before Anderson added a third soon after.

The Bees, who had not lost any of their previous seven home matches, finally created some chances but Andre Gray's header was saved by Bartosz Bialkowski, who later denied Alan Judge.

Brentford pulled a goal back with 10 minutes left when substitute Saunders's shot took a deflection off of a sliding Noel Hunt before looping over Bialkowski.

But Ipswich, despite having less of the overall possession, immediately restored their three-goal advantage as Smith finished off from a corner.

Brentford scored the final goal of the match when Saunders prodded the ball home after a scramble, but Mick McCarthy's side had done enough to take the three points.

Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy: "If we get a bonkers offer for Daryl Murphy, it's beyond my control, but why would we sell our best players?

"Brentford are a really good team and they were pressing to get back in the game, took chances and left Murph one on one, which is always a mistake."

Brentford manager Mark Warburton: "To be three down at half-time against a side of that quality leaves you a mountain to climb, but we still looked to play and had some good passages of play.

"There were three errors. We were hesitant and a little sloppy. I don't mind mistakes but we have to learn from them."