Brentford 3-1 Luton Town: Bees claim comfortable win over Hatters
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Ben Mee scored his first goal in the Premier League this season
Brentford returned to winning ways with a deserved victory against Premier League strugglers Luton.
Neal Maupay put the Bees in front early in the second half when he prodded in from close range after Ben Mee scuffed a shot.
Mee did not have to wait long to get his name on the scoresheet, as his header just seven minutes later put Brentford firmly in the driving seat.
Jacob Brown gave Luton hope by halving the hosts' lead, but Shandon Baptiste calmed Brentford's nerves by restoring the two-goal cushion.
In almost an exact repeat of Luton's meeting with Crystal Palace last Saturday, there was a distinct lack of goalmouth action early on at both ends of the field at Gtech Community Stadium.
Tha drabness was summed up by the fact Hatters goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski was shown a yellow card for time-wasting in the 38th minute.
Brentford's Yegor Yarmolyuk went closest to scoring for either side before the break when his low shot was deflected narrowly wide by Luton's Carlton Morris.
But the Bees, who dominated possession without creating enough in the first period, came out with more purpose in the second period and were given an extra boost as Luton captain Tom Lockyer failed to re-emerge after sustaining an injury.
Luton had to wait until the 61st-minute to register their first attempt on or off target in the game, substitute Brown firing a speculative effort wide of goal.
Brown showed greater accuracy 15 minutes later with his second shot, Luton's first on target, when he latched on to a beautiful defence-splitting ball from Ross Barkley before driving low past Mark Flekken.
Brentford's Baptiste, scoring his first goal since December 2021, wrapped up the points with just under 10 minutes remaining when he reacted quickest to convert after Keane Lewis-Potter's shot was parried into his path.
Morale-boosting win for Bees
Brentford 3-1 Luton Town: Brentford boss Frank applauds team spirit following injuries
After successive losses in the Premier League against Arsenal and Liverpool, Brentford would have been relishing the chance to get back on track against relegation candidates Luton.
They might have had one or two pre-match concerns, with the Hatters showing last weekend they can cause problems when they ran out 2-1 winners against Crystal Palace, albeit at home.
But the campaign so far has been a struggle for Luton on their travels, and this result means they have won one, drawn one and lost five away from Kenilworth Road in the league.
Brentford, who were hit by an injury to Kristoffer Ajer in the warm-up, initially struggled to break down a well organised outfit, enjoying plenty of possession but failing to turn that into anything meaningful.
With little to get the home fans excited about on a chilly afternoon in West London during the opening 45 minutes, Brentford came out of the traps quickly after the restart and Luton were unable to continue keeping them at arm's length.
It is worth noting that Brentford boss Thomas Frank is also dealing with a lengthy injury list, with eight players - including Ajer - sitting out with issues, while Ivan Toney remains suspended for breaking Football Association betting rules.
Despite being far from full strength, Brentford showed enough to get through a testing encounter and confidence levels will be starting to creep back up in the right direction as they prepare for a trip to Brighton on Wednesday.
Manager Frank told BBC Match of the Day: "Very deserved, it was a very good performance in many ways. We had a plan for the Arsenal game a week ago and it was a different plan for Luton today.
"Until their goal, we were very dominant. With the amount of injuries we have - basically we have our four full-backs out - it was great.
"When you are dominating a game, if you keep the tempo and intensity, that is difficult to defend against and we did that very well."
Lack of firepower a huge problem for Luton
Brentford 3-1 Luton Town: Rob Edwards admits Luton weren't good enough
Luton's tally of 57 goals was the lowest of any club to finish in the top six of the Championship last season, while only one club scored fewer in the top 10.
It appears manager Rob Edwards has not been able to solve those scoring issues since leading the club to a surprise promotion to the Premier League.
Only Sheffield United (11) have netted fewer goals than Luton (13) after 14 fixtures in the top-flight this term.
The Hatters looked uninterested in trying to attack during the first half, slowing the game down at every opportunity, and Anthony Taylor rightly dished out a yellow card to goalkeeper Kaminski after several complaints over his antics.
If Brentford had not managed to get two early quickfire goals in the second half, Luton may have continued to sit deep with every intention of holding out for a draw.
Morris, their top scorer this term with three, had no service throughout and the absence of attack-minded wing-back Alfie Doughty, who missed out with a hip injury, was a major blow.
Luton manager Edwards told BBC Sport: "The better side won today. We struggled to find rhythm with the ball and we weren't able to keep it as well as we wanted to. We've been doing that better recently.
"We lost our captain at half-time and that change was big for us. We were a little bit makeshift at the back and Brentford getting those goals made it tough.
"We kept going, the lads always do; we found a way to get back into the game at 2-1, but in truth we didn't deserve anything today. Brentford were good and deserved the win. We needed to be better with the ball."
The glimpse of what Luton could be capable of came when substitute Brown raced through to score, but similar moments were few and far between.
By the looks of the fixture list, this campaign will get no easier for the Hatters any time soon. They host leaders Arsenal on Tuesday before welcoming Manchester City to Kenilworth Road on Sunday.
Edwards said: "That's the league and this is what we wanted."