Brentford 3-1 Reading: Mbeumo double helps Bees move up to fourth
- Published
Bryan Mbeumo scored two goals in six first-half minutes as Reading struggled to contain Brentford
Brentford moved up to fourth in the Championship by cruising to victory over fellow promotion hopefuls Reading.
The Bees were gifted the opener after 11 minutes when Reading goalkeeper Rafael made a mess of Mathias Jensen's shot, which trickled over the line.
Bryan Mbeumo stretched the lead with two goals in six minutes before the break to make the game safe.
Sone Aluko headed one back for the Royals after 64 minutes but defeat sees them drop to eighth.
The teams were only separated by a point beforehand, but Reading had no answer to Brentford's fast start.
Rafael was at fault for the opener when he made a mess of dealing with Jensen's shot and turned to watch it roll over the line.
Worse was to come for the visitors when Mbeumo was given too much space to cut inside and fire home a powerful left-footed effort after 23 minutes.
The Brazilian goalkeeper was picking the ball out of his net again six minutes later when Mbeumo received a pass from Ivan Toney, before turning and slotting in his second.
Shell-shocked Reading forced Brentford goalkeeper David Raya into action shortly before the break but the Spaniard was equal to Josh Laurent's effort.
Heavy rain and a lengthy injury break after Jensen was caught by a stray elbow made the second half a quieter affair but Reading did give themselves hope after 64 minutes.
Michael Olise swung in a cross and the unmarked Aluko headed past Raya, but it proved to be a mere consolation.
Brentford are now unbeaten in 13 Championship games while Reading have lost their past two and drop out of the play-off places.
Bees head coach Thomas Frank:
"We started like we did against Watford and within the first 30 minutes we had killed the game off, but I think Reading are a very good team with some fantastic players, so that is an achievement.
"We had a right winger in Tariqe Fosu at right-back standing in for a Danish international and Charlie Goode back from illness standing in for a Swedish international.
"They were fantastic, throwing their bodies on the line. We wanted to go for the 4-0 goal and pressed higher and were flying straight after half-time, but then the game got scrappy."
Reading boss Veljko Paunovic:
"We were horrendous against a very good team who took advantage of the confusion. We were punished for the mistakes we committed and weren't able to stop the bleeding until the second half.
"At half-time we fixed what we needed to fix and the second half was a completely different story.
"We started playing good football with spirit and the application was great. We won the second half but fell short with the result. We lifted from our knees to our feet and created a lot of opportunities."
Documentaries Like Nowhere Else: From inspiration to infamous, the story of Lance Armstrong
Comedy Like Nowhere Else: Give Kurupt FM a go with the People Just Do Nothing box set
