A first-half brace from Ivan Toney proved enough to seal all three points for Thomas Frank’s Bees who picked up their first away victory of the campaign at Hillsborough, as the game finished 2-1.
Garry Monk was forced into making a couple of changes from the side which won at Birmingham City last time out. Key man Massimo Luongo suffered a minor knee injury at St Andrews which ruled him out of this one, while Jack Marriott made his first start in place of Elias Kachunga.
The change in personnel appeared to unsettle what has been a solid-looking Wednesday side so far this season. It took £10m man Ivan Toney just seven minutes to grab his sixth goal this term.
It was all down to the striker’s gut instinct and reactions to pounce when Cameron Dawson parried Henrik Dalsgaard’s fierce effort right into his path.
The hosts reacted well however first, Adam Reach stung the palms of David Reya with a rasping shot at the near post.
They then found themselves back on level terms within 18 minutes. Great work from skipper Barry Bannan earned Kadeem Harris enough time and space to whip in a majestic cross which was met by the diving header of Callum Paterson, for his first goal in Wednesday colours.
However, The Owls couldn’t keep the in-form Toney down, five minutes after levelling matters, they found themselves with another mountain to climb when The Championship’s top scorer over-powered Moses Odubajo to nod home Vitali Janelt’s corner.
That leaves Toney with seven goals in his last four appearances, making the £10m price tag look like a steal.
Wednesday headed into the half-time interval just a goal down despite chances for both Mathias Jensen and Dalsgaard shortly before the break.
The home side began to brighten after some intervention from the manager and camped in the Brentford half for the opening 15 minutes after half-time without really troubling David Reya.
The best opportunity Monk’s side would have to draw level fell once again to the Scottish international, Paterson. This time he couldn’t generate the power nor direction to beat The Bees stopper and was also adjudged offside by the linesman.
Meanwhile, Ivan Toney had another great chance up the other end for his hat-trick. He pulled away from his marker Joost Van Aken but was unable to divert second-half substitute Sergi Canos’ pull back on target.
Wednesday, now without a win in their last eight home encounters, huffed and puffed but couldn’t create any substantial chances to make life difficult for Brentford’s backline.
They now have three crucial games on the horizon, starting on Saturday against Luton Town, followed by a local derby with Rotherham United and a trip to Adams Park to face Wycombe Wanderers who a still without a point to their name after six outings.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Garry Monk:
“Overall, especially in the first half, we didn’t get the levels of performance that we have been doing. We were just a yard or two off them and when you’re playing against a good side like Brentford are, that can prove costly.
“The goals they scored were goals that could have been avoided. In the second half we were much better at getting up to them and that intensity was at the level we wanted.
“We just need that little bit of composure, but we didn’t quite get that right. It’s always fine margins in this league. You need that bit of composure and we lacked that a little bit.”
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank:
“I was very pleased with the performance. I liked very much the way we handled the ball. We found some good solutions and had some dangerous counters throughout the game.
“I was very pleased with how we defended, except for that spell for around five to 10 minutes around their equaliser. Apart from that I thought we did very well and gave no chances away.”
SWFC: Dawson, Harris, Odubajo, Flint, van Aken, Reach, Bannan, Hunt (Pelupessy 46), Windass (Dele-Bashiru 51), Marriott (Rhodes 72), Paterson.
Brentford: Raya, Dalsgaard, Jansson (Bech Sorensen 58’), Pinnock, Henry, Dasilva, Janelt, Jensen, Mbeumo (Canos 55’), Toney, Ghoddos (Fosu-Henry 77’)
Referee: Darren Bond
