Brentford 5, Wycombe Wanderers 2.

A DISMAL first half performance sent Wanderers spiralling back to the foot of the League One table after a thumping from Brentford.

The game was over inside half an hour as a first half horror show saw Gary Alexander score two simple goals either side of Sam Saunders’ strike.

Alexander went on to claim the match ball with a superb third late on in a topsy-turvy second game that Wanderers had threatened to get back into.

But it’s that first half display that will worry the 919 travelling fans.

Having not won in seven games confidence in the Brentford camp should have been low. An insipid display from Wanderers was just the tonic they needed to get their faltering play-off push back on track as they carved their visitors apart at will.

Blues had no answer to the London side’s pass and move game as Brentford ran rings around them and threatened to run riot.

Although Wanderers improved after the break and pulled one back almost immediately after the break through Dave Winfield’s second goal in two games, they had been so bad they couldn’t get any worse.

To their credit they peppered the Brentford goal after the break and increasing anxiety levels could be felt whenever Wanderers were in possession in the second half.

But this Jekyll and Hyde performance will do little to dispel Wanderers’ relegation fears, as other results conspired against them to send them back to the bottom of the league.

And yet things could have been so different had Wanderers not wasted a golden chance inside the game’s opening ten minutes. Most fans were expecting Stuart Beavon to ripple the net when his delicate header from Ben Strevens’ flick took him past the slipping Leon Legge and through on goal but he put it wide.

That, and a header Strevens sent wide with the visitors three behind, was all Blues had to cheer about as minutes later they saw their side fall behind.

Jake Bidwell got forward from left back and sent over an absolute peach of a cross straight onto the forehead of veteran striker Alexander, who couldn’t miss as he sent a picture book header past former Brentford keeper Nikki Bull.

Manager Gary Waddock will have been steaming at his side’s inability to either close down Bidwell before he could put the cross in or mark Alexander more tightly when it did arrive.

It was a sign of things to come though as the Bees dominated in midfield and nobody in a quartered shirt got to grips with Bidwell’s numerous forays forward.

From there things got worse and worse and with Bees so much on top it was no surprise when they added to their lead.

Burly striker Clayton Donaldson – not for the first time in his career – was causing Blues problems and muscled his way to the byline. Wanderers struggled to clear their lines and the ball popped up for Jonathan Douglas, who with a clever pass laid it on a plate for midfielder Saunders to smash home.

That sent confidence levels through the roof and it wasn’t long before the home side got a third with a carbon copy of the first. The ball reached Bidwell on the left again and his teasing low cross wasn’t dealt with, and although Donaldson failed to make contact his strike partner Alexander made no mistake as he poached his fourth in two games.

Not for the first time this season boos from disgruntled Blues fans rang out, as the half time whistle came with Brentford thoroughly in command and the big question being whether Wanderers would plumb the same depths as they did against Huddersfield, when they shipped half a dozen goals.

But within seconds of the restart Blues, now with a tinkered midfield as Gareth Ainsworth replaced Stuart Lewis, got a foothold in the game as Winfield thundered home a header from a free-kick to reduce the arrears.

Suddenly the talk was of a comeback and after Matt Bloomfield robbed Marcus Bean the ball reached Strevens, and although the striker was well off target a sense of anxiety could be felt from the Griffin Park faithful whenever Blues had the ball.

Debutant James Harper then wasted a good opening when Joel Grant got clear and his cross was chested into the path of the on-loan Hull man by Beavon.

The tactical change in bringing on Ainsworth was causing headaches for Bees and Grant was just unable to reach the veteran winger’s cross.

But Brentford were still two ahead and had chances to extend that, with Douglas whistling one just wide from 25 yards and Winfield threw himself at a cross to deny Alexander a hat-trick.

Twice Bloomfield sent chances off target before Brentford broke and Bean was denied by a good save from Bull.

And the Bees thought they had wrapped things up for good when the ball broke for Bean right on the byline, and he pulled it back for his midfield partner Toumani Diagouraga to slot home the fourth.

Back came Blues though, as Beavon outpaced Legge before being foiled by a great save from Richard Lee, with the former Princes Risborough School pupil excelling himself when he made part two of a fantastic double save by pawing away Grant’s shot on the follow-up.

He need not have bothered though, as Strevens bundled home against his old club from the resulting corner to make it 4-2 but with time running out it looked as though Blues had left it too late to recover again.

That was evidenced by Douglas striking the woodwork, before Alexander completed his treble. Again Bidwell was the creator as his cross evaded everyone and Alexander, lurking at the far post, expertly volleyed the ball past Bull at his near post.

Wanderers: Bull, Foster, Laing, Winfield, Basey, Harper, Lewis (sub Ainsworth), Bloomfield, Grant, Strevens, Beavon. Substitutes not used: Rendell, McCoy, Kewley-Graham, McClure.

Attendance: 5,560 (919 Wycombe)