Ipswich Town have climbed to the top of the Championship table after easing to a 4-2 win over Brentford at Griffin Park this afternoon.
The home side were ahead inside the opening 20 seconds as a quick break from Paul Anderson set up Daryl Murphy to slot the ball in with a low finish.
Andre Gray tried to level the scores for the hosts but his header was wide, before Bartosz Bialkowski comfortably stopped a Jota finish.
The visitors were soon on the attack again though, as Jonathan Parr picked out Murphy again with a looping ball forward, leaving the goal-scorer to round the last defender and keeper before slotting into an empty net.
Murphy looked to complete a hat-trick before the break, but passed to Jay Tabb instead, leaving the midfielder to set up Anderson to make it three before the break.
Murphy continued to cause problems for Brentford at the start of the second half as Cole Skuse left him to blast the ball towards goal from the edge of the box, but his effort was saved.
Jonathan Douglas tried to give the Bees a chance to get back into the tie when he tried to head in from an Alan Judge cross, but he could not get it past the keeper.
Brentford continued to see more of the ball as the match progressed, and managed to get a goal back inside the final 10 minutes when Harlee Dean picked out Sam Saunders, who lashed the ball into the top corner.
Any hopes of a comeback for the home side were quickly ended though, as Ipswich immediately headed back down the other end and restored their three-goal cushion when Tommy Smith fired in a similar finish that Saunders had executed for Brentford moments earlier.
There was another late consolation for the hosts as a goal-line scramble, which saw efforts from Jake Bidwell and Nick Proschwitz, eventually resulted in a second for Saunders.
While Ipswich climb to the top of the table, Brentford remain third but could drop depending on this afternoon's results.
Sian Cowper
