Brentford 3-1 Forest Green Rovers: Bees survive scare at League Two leaders
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Bryan Mbeumo scored for the first time since Brentford won promotion from the Championship
Premier League newcomers Brentford came from a goal down to beat League Two side Forest Green in the Carabao Cup.
Jack Aitchison put the visitors ahead early on with a scrappy goal after a defensive error from the Bees.
But after Josh March hit the post for Rovers, Brentford equalised almost immediately through Yoane Wissa, before Bryan Mbeumo's header put them ahead.
The away side had Ebou Adams sent off with 10 minutes left, and Marcus Forss sealed Brentford's win.
Brentford made nine changes from the side that drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace on Saturday, and it showed over the course of the first half as Rovers, who have won all four of their league games this season, took command.
That said, the Bees would have been ahead two minutes before Rovers' opener, but a superb double save from Lewis Thomas kept out Mads Bidstrup and Halil Dervisoglu.
The League Two side - who themselves made six changes - were in the ascendancy for much of the first half, though, as Jake Young saw a header deflected wide and March nodded past the post after a cross from the impressive Nicky Cadden.
Brentford brought on Sergi Canos and Frank Onyeka at half-time and upped their intensity, but Forest Green almost make it 2-0 as Regan Hendry shot wide.
As the half wore on, Brentford began to assert themselves, though they were fortunate not to fall two goals behind before Wissa's equaliser on his first start since his summer move from Lorient.
The goal galvanised Thomas Frank's side, and substitute Mbuemo shot narrowly wide after being through one-on-one and Thomas made an excellent save from Dominic Thompson's volley.
But French forward Mbuemo made no mistake shortly afterwards with a stooping far-post header from Thompson's cross from the left.
Forss wrapped up the victory as he converted Canos' pull-back from the byeline after a twisting run by the Spaniard.
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank told BBC Radio London:
"I need to praise Forest Green Rovers, Rob Edwards and his staff, I think they did a top job and I think they were the better side in the first half.
"We made nine changes and changed the formation as well, maybe that didn't help, maybe I didn't help the boys as much as I should have done.
"Football games are 90 minutes, so maybe we wanted to do something at the beginning, hoped that it would work better, but sometimes there are different moments in the game that change the momentum of the game.
"We'd like to go as far as possible and then find that balance between how strong a team we put out there depending upon the opponent."
Forest Green Rovers head coach Rob Edwards told BBC Radio Gloucestershire:
"I'm really, really proud of the players, every one of them. They put in an amazing performance, a really brave performance, we showed people what we were about.
"If we're ever going to lose a game, that's how we're going to do it, and we left it all out there.
"The first half performance was top quality. Bravery, quality, work ethic and desire, and potentially we could have had more than one goal.
"We forced them into some changes at half time and obviously the game does change both on their tactical changes and their personnel changes."
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