Brentford ended their three-game losing run in the Championship with a comfortable 3-0 win over struggling Sheffield Wednesday.
Goals from Bryan Mbeumo, Saman Ghoddos and Mads Bech Sorensen ensured the Bees stayed second with their first clean sheet in nine league outings.
Makeshift centre-forward Mbeumo gave the hosts the lead midway through the first half when he redirected Sergi Canos’ wayward shot past the goalkeeper from close range.
He turned provider late in the second half when he slipped a ball into the path of Ghoddos who angled a first-time shot across the keeper and inside the far post.
The second goal was not without controversy as the Owls were down to 10 men following a calculated Henrik Dalsgaard foul on Fisayo Dele-Bashiru that later forced him off injured.
Iranian midfielder Ghoddos added an assist seven minutes from time with a pinpoint free-kick which Sorensen guided back across goal and in off the far post with his head.
The Bees shaded a scrappy first half dominated by some strange refereeing decisions from official Jeremy Simpson that left both sides infuriated.
Owls midfielder Barry Bannan was the first to get a shot away, stinging Bees keeper David Raya’s fingers with a 25-yard strike.
At the other end Mbeumo’s ambitious over the shoulder volley from a diagonal Ghoddos cross was feet away from being a goal of the season candidate.
Wednesday managed very little going forward with playmaker Bannan forced to drop deeper and deeper in a stop-start opening 45 minutes.
Canos reacted to a quickly taken throw-in minutes after the restart but could only angle a speculative first-time effort across goal.
But the Bees should have stretched their lead in the 53rd minute when Dalsgaard cut a pass back from the byline into the path of Ghoddos who rolled his shot inches wide with just the keeper to beat.
Liam Palmer almost made Brentford pay minutes later when he barged his way through three challenges only to slice well wide from the edge of the area.
Two second-half goals gave the Bees confidence and they looked far more like the side that went 21 games unbeaten.
They should have been out of sight four minutes after their controversial second when Mbeumo raced clear only to be thwarted by a smart Joe Wildsmith stop in a one on one.
Brentford centre-back Ethan Pinnock came even closer to making it three seconds later when he toe-poked a scrambled effort just past the upright.
He almost made it four with the last touch of the game, rising highest only to head Mathias Jensen’s corner just past the post, but by then it was all over for Wednesday who slipped to a third consecutive loss.
