Martyn Waghorn and Joe Garner were on target as Town took their start to the season to five wins out of five by beating Brentford 2-0 at Portman Road. Home debutant Waghorn opened the scoring in the 35th minute with his one-time Rangers team-mate netting the second with a header six minutes after the restart to take the Blues to second in the Championship.
Myles Kenlock returned to the side for injured skipper Luke Chambers in an otherwise unchanged team.
The 20-year-old started at left-back with Jonas Knudsen moving into a makeshift central defensive pairing with Jordan Spence. Cole Skuse wore the captain’s armband in Chambers’s absence.
Mick McCarthy again fielded all four of his strikers, while Dean Gerken and Bersant Celina, who both missed the 4-3 win at Millwall as they were unwell, returned to the bench along with Flynn Downes, who had been absent at the Den with a calf injury.
Brentford made three changes from the team which drew 2-2 at home to Bristol City in midweek with Jota, who has been strongly linked with West Ham, among those missing from the 18.
The visitors struck the game’s first shot in the second minute, Kamo Mokotjo smashing a powerful effort well wide following a corner from the right.
The Bees dominated the first couple of minutes but on six Freddie Sears broke into the area on the left and looked for Garner at the far post but a defender intervened.
Brentford threatened again in the 11th minute when the ball was cut back to the unmarked Nico Yennaris in space on the edge of the area but the Bees’ skipper took a touch when he might have shot first time and Knudsen was able to close down and block.
The Bees continued to dominate and on the quarter hour Neil Maupay turned a Yennaris cross from the right to Bartosz Bialkowski, who claimed comfortably.
The West Londoners weren’t too far away again two minutes later when Yoann Barbet was found by Ollie Watkins’s freekick from deep on the left but the French defender was unable to get enough on the ball.
Bialkowski saved sharply low to his right from Watkins in the 20th minute with the Blues still having made little headway going forward.
That changed in the 23rd minute when Kenlock sent Sears away down the left. The former West Ham man cut inside and into the box but Barbet got across to slide in and put the ball behind before he could cross for Waghorn at the far post.
The Blues began to get on top with David McGoldrick starting to see more of the ball. Meanwhile, at the other end, Maupay was becoming increasingly frustrated with referee Oliver Langford, a couple of decisions having gone against him.
On the half hour, Kenlock won a freekick on the Town left and Ward swung the ball in deeper than he probably intended and Bees keeper Daniel Bentley was forced to tip over.
Two minutes later Bialkowski was out quickly to punch away ahead of Maupay as he chased a ball down the middle, the French striker subsequently shoving Spence after the ball had gone out and receiving a ticking off from the referee.
Town had begun to look the more threatening side and in the 35th minute they went in front. Skipper Skuse intercepted a pass just inside the Brentford half and left the ball for McGoldrick, who brought it into the box where he was shoved to the ground by Yennaris.
The players and the Portman Road crowd called for a penalty - probably justifiably - but the loose ball ran through to Waghorn, who turned his first home goal into the net, his fourth for the Blues since his move from Rangers less than two weeks ago.
Brentford looked to quickly get back on terms and on 43, Romaine Sawyers, who moments earlier had been booked for frustratedly throwing the ball away, was found in space on the left of the Town area and hit a shot across Bialkowski that the Blues keeper saved well.
Then, following a corner, Yennaris smashed a shot from distance off the top of the Town bar. The danger still wasn’t gone, however, and within a minute Florian Jozefzoon headed straight at Bialkowski when unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box from Watkins’s left-sided cross.
For the Blues, McGoldrick twisted and turned to find himself space on the right of the area and hit a shot which Bentley saved.
Moments before the half was brought to an end Maupay finally talked his way into referee Langford’s book.
Brentford’s frustrations were perhaps understandable having been on top for most of the half, creating most of the game’s chances.
But, as has been the case with Town’s strikers in the last few games, when a Blues chance had come Waghorn tucked it away, the Bees having either spurned their opportunities, hit the bar or found Bialkowski in typically resolute mood.
Four minutes after the restart Yennaris screwed a shot wide for the visitors, then on 51 Town doubled their lead.
McGoldrick stole the ball from Harlee Dean on the left and took it on before his cross towards Garner was turned behind by a defender.
Ward whipped in the corner from the right, Garner headed goalwards and Yennaris cleared away from goal. However, referee Langford quickly signalled that the newly-introduced goal-line technology had indicated that the ball had crossed the line and the former Rangers man celebrated his third goal of the season and his second at Portman Road in front of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.
HAWK-EYE: Despite @BrentfordFC's best efforts, they couldn't keep out Joe Garner as he doubled the @Official_ITFC lead this afternoon. 👠pic.twitter.com/xPpltGeYkp
— EFL (@EFL) August 19, 2017
Brentford swapped Maupay for Lasse Vibe in the 62nd minute as they looked to find a way back into the game.
A minute later there was an uncharacteristic error from Bialkowski, the keeper mis-punching a looping ball after Watkins’s shot had deflected up into the air. Kenlock saw the ball behind for a corner.
There was more excellent work from Kenlock in the 66th minute when he dispossessed Jozefzoon and sent a terrific pass over Barbet and into the path of Garner, who was through on goal. But just as the striker was about to unleash his shot the Frenchman made a superb challenge to take the ball away from him.
On 69 Waghorn was replaced by Downes to warm applause from his new fans. Seconds later, Mokotjo hit a low shot through to Bialkowski, who claimed confidently down to his right.
Garner almost found Sears with a cross from the Blues’ left before Vibe tried to catch out Bialkowski with a sharp shot from the right with the Town keeper having initially come off his line to come for the ball as the Dane chased it down.
Vibe, who had only been on the field for 13 minutes, hobbled off moments later and was replaced by debutant Theo Archibald. Soon after, Brentford swapped Jozefzoon for Josh Clarke, then as the game moved into its final 10 minutes Kenlock was booked for a foul on Archibald.
With five minutes remaining McGoldrick was switched for Tristan Nydam, who was making his home debut, the Irish international receiving a warm ovation as he left the field after another excellent performance.
In the 88th minute Danny Rowe took over from Sears, who was again given a warm ovation as he made his way off the pitch.
Brentford looked to put the Blues under pressure in the final minutes but without significantly testing Bialkowski and his improvised backline, who could be proud of their role in helping Town to a well-won three points.
In the absence of skipper Chambers Knudsen - who had been the standout performer in the back four putting in one of his best performances for the club - was the one charged with the now obligatory fist pump in front of the Sir Bobby Robson Stand.
Having ridden their luck at times in the first half, in addition to Bialkowski making important saves, the Blues were more comfortable after the break once Garner had added the second goal.
A Brentford comeback never seriously looked on the cards, although the Bees, who drop to bottom with only one point, will wonder how they were behind at the break.
Town's clinical start to the campaign continued with the Blues netting two of three shots on goal, taking their overall total to nine goals from 12 shots on target in their four Championship games.
The victory was Town’s fifth of the season in all competitions, matching the start in the 1999/00 promotion campaign, which concidentally contained two 2-0 League Cup wins against Brentford.
The Blues last won their first four league games at the start of the 1974/75 campaign.
The result sees Town, who travel to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday before facing Fulham in the Championship at home next Saturday, climb to second in the table behind Cardiff, who beat Wolves 2-1 at Molineux this afternoon.
Town: Bialkowski, Iorfa, Spence, Knudsen, Kenlock, Skuse (c), Ward, Waghorn (Downes 69), Sears (Rowe 88), McGoldrick (Nydam 85), Garner. Unused: Gerken, Celina, McDonnell, Woolfenden.
Brentford: Bentley, Dalsgaard, Dean, Barbet, Colin, Mokotjo, Yennaris (c), Jozefzoon (Clarke 78), Sawyers, Watkins, Maupay (Vibe 62 (Archibald 75)). Unused: Daniels, Bjelland, Egan, Archibald, Westbrooke. Referee: Oliver Langford (West Midlands). Att: 15,348.