Mbeumo scores twice in Brentford victory

Brentford 4

Mbeumo (9′, 48′)
Wissa (58′)
Norgaard (95’+5)

Brighton 2

Welbeck (45’+3)
Mitoma (81′)

Bryan Mbeumo scored twice as Brentford won at home for the first time since early December.

Mbeumo also set up Yoane Wissa to score – the pair have now netted 34 goals between them in all competitions this season – before captain Christian Norgaard rounded off the victory with a late fourth.

Brighton had equalised in the first half but could not contain the Bees after half-time, finishing the game with 10 men as Joao Pedro was sent off for clashing with Nathan Collins.

Brentford started brightly in the Spring sunshine and should have been ahead just three minutes in, but Wissa was denied by keeper Bart Verbruggen from close range.

His strike partner Mbeumo made no mistake five minutes later, slotting into the corner of the net following brilliant play by Keane Lewis-Potter to set him clear.

Despite dominating possession, Brighton had few chances of note in the opening 45 minutes but they were level at the break after Danny Welbeck headed in a Mats Wieffer cross.

Parity did not last long after the interval though, as a misplaced pass from Verbruggen saw the ball worked to Wissa and he set up Mbeumo to curl home his second goal of the afternoon.

And they linked up again before the hour mark, with Mbeumo this time crossing for Wissa to score with an effort that deflected in off Brighton captain Lewis Dunk.

The visitors’ afternoon soon got even worse soon afterwards, when forward Pedro was shown a straight red card for kicking out at Collins.

Brighton did force a nervy end to the game when substitute Karou Mitoma slotted beyond Mark Flekken with 10 minutes to play, but a header from Norgaard in the closing stages sealed the three points for Thomas Frank’s side.

There was more than 20 minutes of stoppage time, largely because of a worrying head injury suffered by Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke in a collision with Brentford’s Yunus Konak, who was also hurt.

Brentford: Flekken, Kayode (Ajer 66), Collins, Van den Berg, Lewis-Potter (Henry 76), Norgaard, Yarmoliuk (Jensen 76), Damsgaard (Janelt 87), Mbeumo, Wissa, Schade (Konak 87) Nunes 90+16).
Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Pinnock, Mee.