Blackburn 3-2 Brentford: Rovers edge thriller at Ewood Park

Blackburn edged a five-goal thriller to defeat Brentford 3-2 and register their first Sky Bet Championship win in over a month.

All the goals came in a frantic first half, with the opener provided by Scott Hogan for the visitors after just 33 seconds.

The home side responded magnificently and Danny Graham bagged a brace in the space of five minutes to turn the game on its head.

Hogan grabbed a second of his own on the half hour mark but his captain, Harlee Dean, scored the winning goal - past his own goalkeeper, and all of this before the half-time whistle.

Both sides looked nervy as the half wore on but Rovers grabbed a huge victory - stretching their unbeaten home run to four - and are within touching distance of getting out of the drop zone.

The result continues Brentford's poor recent run - they have lost four of the last six games.

Owen Coyle was without Danny Guthrie, Gordon Greer and Marvin Emnes but the fit-again Derrick Williams returned. Dean Smith meanwhile freshened his team up from defeat against Fulham by recalling Lasse Vibe and Sullay Kaikai.

Rovers made a disastrous start when Vibe's speculative through-ball in the first minute sprung their offside trap and Hogan stroked the ball past Jason Steele via the post with ease to end his four-game goal drought.

To their credit, Blackburn rallied and went close in the ninth minute when Craig Conway stood the ball up for Sam Gallagher who saw his powerful free header stunningly palmed behind by Daniel Bentley.

They did equalise six minutes later though when Williams did well to cross for Graham. His initial low header from close range was superbly repelled but the forward reacted quickest to tap home the rebound

Rovers were on a charge and went ahead in the 20th minute from the spot when Josh Clarke slid through Corry Evans. Graham stepped up to send Bentley the wrong way for his fourth of the season.

The striker then hit the side netting from a near post header before the Bees hit back on 30 minutes with a slick passing move that saw Nico Yennaris provide the perfect pass for Hogan to clip the ball past Steele from inside the area - his 10th of the campaign.

Kaikai's 25-yard strike went a whisker wide of the post just moments before the decisive goal in the 38th minute. Gallagher's purposeful run gave him the chance to curl in a low cross and somehow Dean volleyed past Bentley under no pressure.

The second half was a lull in comparison, though Blackburn went close late on when Graham blazed over and Bentley saved well from a 25-yard Evans drive.

Despite late pressure from Brentford, they held on for a huge win.

Blackburn boss Owen Coyle:

"I'm so pleased for the players, the fans, because it would have been easy losing a goal after 30 seconds to feel sorry for ourselves, but nothing could be further from the truth. We kept persevering with our quality of play and get ourselves in front at 2-1 and we tried to add to it. When you don't get that goal, at the level we operate, you can get punished.

"Having got in front and looking good to add to it, we find ourselves at 2-2 and have to pick ourselves up again, which we do. There was a lot to be pleased about. I'm just delighted how we went about it. It's an important three points."

Brentford boss Dean Smith:

"I just felt that we gave them a helping hand with the goals. We didn't defend the second phase of a corner well enough. They overloaded the back post. Daniel's (Bentley) made a great save but they reacted quicker.

"The second goal, we get done with a one-two and go to ground in the box. And the third goal, Egs (John Egan) gets caught out, and then we don't delay the lad crossing it and Harlee doesn't sort his feet out quick enough, so we certainly gave them a helping hand.