Brentford held off a second-half fightback from an inspired Luton Town side to secure an important three points.
Iranian Saman Ghoddos netted his first league goal for the Bees, in a game which saw the end marred by two red cards.
Tom Lockyer of the visitors and league top scorer Ivan Toney were given their marching orders for an off the ball incident that left many fans watching bewildered.
The away side came into the game after a superb victory at AFC Bournemouth on Saturday, whereas the Bees were playing their first game of 2021, after an outbreak of Covid-19 within the camp.
Thomas Frank’s men sat in sixth before kick-off, on 41 points, whilst the Hatters were 12th on 33.
Brentford started the first half strongly, pressing aggressively, and having chances from Sergi Canos and Toney that tested Simon Sluga in The Hatters net.
The breakthrough deservedly came for the hosts on 14 minutes, after some superb build up play. A delightful one-two between Toney and Mbeumo saw the league’s top scorer send a brilliant first-time ball in for Ghoddos who headed past Sluga.
The goal came after a period of domination from the hosts and you could not have really had too many complaints when the Iranian headed in.
Canos and Toney had further chances to double The Bees’ lead soon after, but Sluga stood strong to deny the Spaniard, whilst the latter could not find the target.
The visitors eventually grew into the game and after an effort from Mpanzu that cleared the goal, and James Collins’s shot was blocked by Ethan Pinnock, Luton were looking a much more competitive side.
The second-half, however, was massively different to the first, and it saw Brentford having to defend for large portions, something they were not used to.
Luton dominated possession for periods of the second half, but Toney really should have doubled the hosts lead, but his shot was straight at Sluga.
A series of changes from the visitors seem to spring them into life, as Harry Cornick soon after headed straight at Raya from close range, before Jordan Clark fired across the face of goal.
Raya was called into action minutes after, as he was at full stretch to deny Ryan Tunnicliffe an equaliser.
Despite still looking dangerous, a series of Luton crosses were comfortably cleared by the Bees, who at that point had all but done enough.
A competitive and scrappy encounter throughout sadly ended on a sour note. Toney was penalised for a foul on Luton man Lockyer, which angered the latter.
The ball had been cleared further up the pitch, but the pair were not finished with each other.
Lockyer was caught putting his head into the face of Toney and was shown a straight red by Stephen Martin.
In addition, Toney was also dismissed for a second yellow for his involvement in said incident.
It left a bitter end to an otherwise superb victory for the hosts, which sees them firmly in the hunt for promotion.
Thomas Frank’s men move up to third on 44 points, with a game in hand on second place Swansea, who they face next week, but not before an FA Cup fourth round tie with Leicester City on Sunday.
Luton meanwhile drop a place to 13th but have a trip to Chelsea on Sunday to look forward to, before going to Ewood Park to face Blackburn Rovers.
By Josh Mann
