NAHKI WELLS
Brentford cruised to a comfortable 4-2 win over Nahki Wells and his Huddersfield teammates but made hard work of it after romping to a three-goal lead before the break.
Brentford totally outclassed Town in a one-sided first half which saw Sergi Canos, Lasse Vibe and Alan Judge give the scoreline an emphatic feel.
But the visitors took just seconds to signal their intent after the re-start when Joe Lolley smashed into the roof of the net to give David Wagner's side fresh hope.
Judge snuffed any realistic hope of an unlikely fightback when he was bundled over in the box by Ben Chilwell and the referee pointed harshly to the spot, the Irishman dusting himself down to rifle home for 4-1.
Brentford were on the back foot for long spells in the second half, with substitute Wells who replaced the hapless Ishmael Miller a constant thorn in the side.
Joel Lynch and Wells, twice, both scuffed efforts wide of the far post after wriggling past a Bees defense that looked flat after the exertions of the first half.
And when Kyle Dempsey capitalized on a Toumani Diagouraga slip to fire home deep into injury time, it gave the second half a more realistic scoreline.
Wells wriggled free down the left flank and squeezed a ball back for Lolley to fire home from close range.
Wells found the outside of the post on 71 minutes after turning Tarkowski inside out before again firing wide with 10 minutes remaining.
RAI SIMONS
Bradford finally found a way past Tommy Lee as Tony McMahon gave the visitors a 1-0 win at managerless Chesterfield.
Lee made a string of superb saves but was beaten by McMahon's second-half strike which lifts Bradford to eighth in Sky Bet League One.
Simons replaces Liam O'Neill in the 77th minute.
REGGIE LAMBE
Cambridge and Reggie Lambe and his Mansfield teammates shared a 1-1 draw in Sky Bet League Two to leave both sides chasing the play-offs at Christmas.
Mansfield led after 23 minutes when Adam Chapman's long-range free kick caught out Sam Beasant.
The goal saw Cambridge spring to life and they soon had a Luke Berry effort ruled out for offside before drawing themselves level nine minutes before half time.
Ryan Donaldson, on as an early substitute, cut inside from the right wing and saw his effort from the edge of the box take a large deflection on its way past Brian Jensen.
|
