Brentford 4 (MacDonald 10, 33, Weston 35, 79) Gillingham 0

Brentford cruised to victory over Gillingham in an entertaining game at Griffin Park on Saturday.

With part of the build-up focusing on Gills manager Mark Stimson’s refusal to shake Andy Scott’s hand when the sides last met on Boxing Day, it was a particularly satisfying win for the Bees boss.

“It is important to get the win. After a dodgy first couple of minutes, we were in control of the game and it was a good win," he said afterwards.

"All round, it was a good day’s work and I was very pleased.”

After surviving an early scare when Simeon Jackson hit the post, the Bees saw Charlie MacDonald and Myles Weston notch doubles as they comfortably outclassed their Kent rivals.

Scott gave Toumani Diagouraga his home debut in place of the injured Marcus Bean, while on-loan signing John Akinde replaced Ben Strevens up front and Sam Saunders regained his place on the right wing.

Jackson raced clear in the opening minutes but was denied by a fine save from Wojciech Szczesny, who pushed his shot on to the post, before denying Andy Barcham’s follow-up.

As Brentford settled down, they took the lead after only 10 minutes, when former Bees keeper Alan Julian was left exposed by a backpass from Darren Dennehy, which MacDonald intercepted and was then hauled down by Julian as he tried to round the keeper.

MacDonald himself made no mistake from the spot, placing his shot into the bottom left-hand corner.

Five minutes later MacDonald just failed to double the lead, when a smart chip from Diagouraga allowed him to race into Gillingham’s penalty box but his early shot was just wide of the right-hand post.

Gillingham’s forays forward became increasingly rare but, after James Walker broke down the left, his cross was half-cleared to Jack Payne on the edge of the box, whose shot was easily held by Szczesny.

MacDonald doubled Brentford’s lead from the spot after a soft penalty was awarded for a challenge on Diagouraga as he burst into the Gills box, this time firing down the centre and into the top of the net.

Weston extended the Bees’ lead just after the half-hour mark, when he broke free down the left and, from inside the box, unleashed a low shot across Julian into the bottom right-hand corner.

Unsurprisingly, the second half failed to hit the heights of the first as Brentford cruised to all three points.

Mark Bentley went close for Gillingham, but Szczesny’s outstretched fingertips saw his header hit the crossbar before Walker missed an easy chance from the rebound by shooting wide.

Brentford wrapped up the scoring, when Weston was again released down the left and, after his low shot came back off the left-hand post, it hit the unfortunate Julian before bouncing into the back of the net to wrap up a deserved victory.

Brentford: Szczesny; Foster, Smith, Legge, Dickson; Saunders (sub Ainsworth 74), Diagouraga, O’Connor, Weston; MacDonald (sub Strevens 82), Akinde (sub Cort 82)

Subs (not used): Moore, Wood, Phillips, Hunt

Attendance: 6,036

Goals: MacDonald 10, 33 (pens), Weston 35, 79

Man of the match: Myles Weston

Match rating: 5/6