Kevin Schade’s 18th-minute goal has given Brentford a 1-0 half-time lead over the Blues at Portman Road.
Town boss Kieran McKenna made one change from last week’s 2-2 draw at Everton with Axel Tuanzebe returning to the starting XI.
Tuanzebe, who had again been struggling with his recent hamstring problem, was at right-back with Luke Woolfenden dropping to the bench and Dara O’Shea moving into the middle of the backline.
Ben Johnson was back on the bench after his one-match ban but with Kalvin Phillips again absent after returning as a sub at Goodison Park having been suffering with an achilles issue.
Brentford named the same side that beat Manchester United 4-3 at the Gtech Community Stadium last week.
Town began on the front foot and in the second minute Omari Hutchinson crossed from the right to Liam Delap, but the striker’s header was too close to Mark Flekken in the Brentford goal.
On 12, with neither side having created a further opportunity, Julio Enciso dummied the ball then chased it into the Bees’ half before being hauled back by Michael Kayode, who was probably fortunate to avoid a booking.
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In the 16th minute, much to the surprise of the Town players and fans, VAR paused the game for penalty check following a clash between Jacob Greaves and Sepp van den Berg as a corner was being taken on the right.
From the footage shown, Greaves had appeared to haul over the Brentford defender while falling, although what caused him to be tumbling wasn’t shown.
However, ultimately VAR decided against awarding a spot-kick as the corner hadn’t been taken and the ball wasn’t in play.
Before the flag-kick was taken again, Bees skipper Christian Norgaard pulled over Jack Taylor at the back of the box, referee Sam Barrott booking the pair, much to the annoyance of the Town midfielder, who felt he’d been fouled.
Eventually, Bryan Mbeumo sent the ball over for a third time and Kevin Schade rose high at the near post to flick the ball across Alex Palmer and into the corner of the net, the German’s 11th goal of the season.
Town fans, irked by the circumstances surrounding the goal, made their irritation with referee Barrott clear in the 32nd minute when they loudly and sarcastically celebrated a free-kick given against Norgaard for a foul on Hutchinson.
The Bees quickly won the ball back after the free-kick and Mbeumo was played in on the right of the box but the Cameroonian international’s rather scuffed effort was saved down to his right by Palmer.
A minute later, Schade received the ball from Mbeumo in the area and momentarily appeared to have an opening, but his control let him down and he went to ground under the attentions of Tuanzebe appealing for a penalty. Referee Barrott waved away the protests and VAR agreed.
Taylor shot powerfully wide of Flekken’s right post from distance in the 39th minute with chances rare at both ends.
As the game moved into two additional minutes, Mikkel Damsgaard scraped a shot across the face and wide from the left of the area after a Mbeumo strike from the other side of the box had been deflected into the air.
At the whistle, there were boos from the Town support aimed towards referee Barrott for the circumstances relating to the goal, perhaps more the second incident involving Norgaard and Taylor rather than the first when the Blues appeared fortunate not to have conceded a penalty with the ball deemed not in play when both incidents occurred.
Aside from that incident, Brentford had been the better side but by not an awful lot having not been allowed to create too much, while still looking the most threatening, particularly from set pieces.
Town’s only real chances had been Delap’s early header and Taylor’s shot wide towards the end.
Town: Palmer, Tuanzebe, O’Shea, Burgess, Greaves, Morsy (c), Taylor, Hutchinson, Chaplin, Enciso, Delap. Subs: Walton, Woolfenden, Johnson, Godfrey, Boniface, Cajuste, Luongo, Clarke, Hirst.
Brentford: Flekken, Kayode, Van den Berg, Collins, Lewis-Potter, Norgaard (c), Yarmoliuk. Damsgaard, Mbeumo, Schade, Wissa. Subs: Valdimarsson, Henry, Pinnock, Jensen, Thiago, Mee, Konak, Maghoma, Nunes. Referee: Sam Barrott (West Riding). VAR: Jarred Gillett.