A poor first half performance resulted in Brentford suffering their first league defeat of the season at home when they lost 3-1 to Bristol Rovers at Griffin Park on Saturday.

Poor defending from Brentford during a woeful first half allowed Rovers to establish a three goal cushion at half time, and despite the Bees’ best efforts during the second half they were never likely to find a way back into the match.

Afterwards Bees manager Andy Scott was frank in his assessment of his side’s failings: “We didn’t start the way we usually do. We played too deep. Our wide players were too deep. We hit too many long balls.”

Scott expected better after retaining the same side that gained an impressive point at Huddersfield last week.

Yet he saw Brentford fall behind after only ten minutes when on loan debutant striker Chris Dickson latched onto a ball from former bee Jo Kuffour and out-muscled Alan Bennett before firing home from just inside the box.

As the Bees tried to respond, Myles Weston broke down the left hand side and his low cross across goal to the back post was just beyond the reach of Cleveland Taylor at the back post.

Bristol Rovers doubled their lead just before the half hour mark when Dickson raced onto a long ball down the right hand flank and sent a perfectly weighted lob over the advancing Lewis Price into the back of the net.

As the Bees tried to find a way back into the match Sam Wood picked up a clearance on the half way line and hit an early ball forward to Charlie MacDonald, who was denied by keeper Mikkel Andersen who just managed to clear the ball.

Rovers extended their lead further with four minutes left in the half when Aaron Lescott played a one two with Dickson on the left and from inside the box slide the ball past Price into the bottom right hand corner.

Andersen again denied MacDonald just before half time after a good break by Taylor down the left hand side.

Brentford enjoyed their fair share of possession during the second half as Rovers sat back and substitute Marcus Bean added some control to midfield.

They were denied an early boost when Andersen brought down Kabba just outside the box but referee Hooper showed just a yellow card to the keeper.

MacDonald did give the Bees some hope when he won a header in midfield before firing home from 20 yards.

As Brentford looked to pull another back Kabba set up Sam Saunders but his cross come shot was knocked away by Andersen.

In truth Rovers were able to hold on quite comfortably as the Bees were left to rue a below par performance.

Brentford: Price; Wilson, Phillips, Bennett, Wood; Taylor, Hunt (sub Bean 44), O’Connor, Weston (sub Saunders 44); MacDonald, Kabba Subs (not used): Bull, Osborne, Ferrell, Foster, Blake Attendance: 6528