Defensive nightmare sees Wolves ravage careless Bees

Brentford (1) 1 Wissa 16

Wolves (3) 4 Lemina 13, Hwang Hee-Chan 14, 28, Bellegarde 79

Brentford's season just got more complicated.

A defensive horror show - featuring two awful blunders from former Wolves defender Nathan Collins - gifted a vibrant Wolves their points. It was the first time the Bees had shipped four goals at the Gtech.

There is no need for Bees fans to panic just yet, despite a fourth home defeat of the season which leaves their team too close to the bottom for comfort. They will soon have Ivan Toney back after his lengthy ban and more players should get back off the treatment table soon.

But it still felt like an alarming setback.

Two goals in 60 seconds had Brentford at sixes and sevens with the game not even 15 minutes old.

First, Mario Lemina powered in a far post header from Pablo Sarabia's cross from the left. Then, from the kick-off, Collins' misjudged backpass to Mark Flekken was picked off by Hwang Hee-Chen, who rounded the keeper before tapping into an empty net.

Perhaps the ex-Wanderers defender forgot for a split second who he was playing for.

If ever a quick response was needed, this was the moment, and within a couple of minutes, Yoane Wissa got in front of the last defender from Neal Maupay's clever flick-on to fire home.

But the two-goal lead was soon restored when Toti's forward header after more careless play at the back found Hwang, and his nice touch over Ethan Pinnock gave the South Korean all the space he needed to beat Flekken again.

Thomas Frank's men were probably relieved to see Hwang limp off before the half was out, because he was looking in the mood to do more damage. But in the end, it made no difference.

At kick-off, it looked as if Vitaly Janelt was going to be detailed into the emergency left-back role, but that duty was taken up by Saman Ghoddos instead at the outset and when the pair combined down the left, it needed a Toti header to clear a dangerous cross from the more advanced Janelt.

Then the German almost rifled a cross into his own net - only just clearing the bar - and that was even before the first goal. Later, during a frantic first half, Janelt popped up with a header straight at Jose Sa which could have made it 2-2. You could say, he was getting involved. But in the end, it was not to be his night, or any of his team-mates' night.

Collins missed the chance to make amends for his first blunder, heading over from close range and the half ended with the hint of more goals as a beautiful chip from Maupay almost set up another goal for Wissa, with the French striker hitting wide when the ball ran back out to him in the melee.

Wolves looked far from impregnable as the Bees mounted a comeback bid after the break - perhaps imagining they might affect a turnaround similar to Man United's against Aston Villa 24 hours ago. In Keane Lewis-Potter they had a willing battler.

One dance to the byline and cross invited a tap-in that never came but the Bees' energy levels looked superior to Gary O'Neil's tiring team. Danish duo Mikkel Damsgaard and Mathias Jensen came on to add extra creativity.

But the goal to get them back into it never materialised and another howler from Collins settled the outcome. His square ball went straight to Matheus Cunha and a pass in from the right was tucked home by Hwang's replacement, Jean-Ricner Bellegarde.

A night to forget then and a run of six defeats in seven matches which needs arresting quickly.

Bees: (3-4-3) Flekken - Collins, Pinnock, Ghoddos - Roerslev (Jensen 67), Norgaard, Yarmoliuk (Damsgaard h/t), Janelt - Lewis-Potter (Peart-Harris 86), Maupay, Wissa (Olakiigbe 86)

Wolves: (3-4-2-1) Sa - Kilman, S Bueno, Toti - Semedo (Doherty 65), Lemina, Joao Gomes, Ait-Nouri - Hwang Hee-Chan (Bellegarde 45), Sarabia (Doyle 65) - Cunha

Attendance: 17,109