FIVE-ALIVE BEES FIELD THE VIBE!
DEAN Smith was thrilled with Brentford’s fivestar performance that saw them reach round four.
The Bees were three-up inside 23 minutes, Yoann Barbet’s penalty followed by Tom Field’s header and a superb Lasse Vibe curler.
The Spitfires clawed one back through Ayo Obileye, before Field added his second and Romaine Sawyers fired into the bottom corner in injury time.
The second half was played at testimonial pace and, though Eastleigh never gave up, Brentford recorded a comfortable win.
“I asked for three things from the players: work rate, attitude and application and they gave me all three,” Smith said.
“I think I made my intentions clear when I named the team to the players yesterday. They knew we wanted to get through to the next round.
“Obviously, it was a potential banana skin, but we needed to be professional and I thought we were.
“We could’ve scored more, we know that, but they probably could’ve scored a few as well.”
Brentford were given a head start when keeper Graham Stack brought down Vibe after he met Sawyers’ neat pass, Barbet calmly slotting home on nine minutes.
Sawyers was provider again on 17 minutes with a fantastic cross to Field, who netted his first senior goal.
Eastleigh spurned a chance on 23 minutes, Obileye unable to turn in a free-kick and Brentford punished them immediately.
Josh McEachran selflessly passed to Vibe, who curled past Stack to end the contest.
Eastleigh clawed one back on 29 minutes, Daniel Bentley’s miscued punch falling to Obileye to tap home.
The Bees restored their three-goal cushion on 38 minutes, Field running onto McEachran’s pass before producing a striker’s finish.
Sawyers then netted one himself, Vibe providing a perfect lay-off for his strike partner to score from 25 yards.
The second half was quiet but Obileye should have scored on 64 minutes, heading Michael Green’s corner over.
Substitute Jota went close for Brentford late on, but the game was won long beforehand.
On his return to Brentford, Martin Allen was proud of Eastleigh’s response.
“It was very special,” Allen said. “It’s got to go down as one of the highlights of my career.
“I thought we started all right. I wasn’t sure if that was a penalty. But they were better than us, let’s not kid ourselves, they deserved to win.
“This was going to be a hard game for us whatever the weather. The players gave a great account of themselves.
“At half-time, all I needed to say to the players was: ‘For f**k’s sake, what are we going to do? Crumble, back off and drop? Or are we going to give our families something to be proud of ?’”
BRENTFORD: (3-5-2): Bentley 5, Egan 6, Dean 6 (Mepham 80 6), Barbet 6, Colin 6 (Clarke 45 7), McEachran 7, Woods 7, Yennaris 6 (Jota 61 7), Field 7, Vibe 8, Sawyers 8 Subs not used: Bonham, Saunders, Hofmann, McCormack
EASTLEIGH: (3-5-2): Stack 5, Dugdale 5, Hoyte 5 (Reason 9 5), Essam 5, Odoffin 6, Togwell 6, Coulson 6, Obileye 5, Green 6, Bird 5 (Mandrom 62 6), Constable 6 (Wilson 55 6)
Subs not used: Childs