BLACKBURN Rovers crashed to their second straight Championship defeat after being out-thought and out-fought on a truly miserable afternoon in the capital.

It was Rovers’ first league trip to Griffin Park since 1979 and the 1,500 travelling supporters packed behind the goal will hope it is another 35 years before they return after seeing their totally out-of-sorts side comfortably beaten.

Yes there were spells in the game when Gary Bowyer’s boys were on top and yes the final outcome may have been different had Ben Marshall not fluffed a gilt-edged opportunity with the contest delicately poised.

But Brentford were the better team and the team that wanted it more for long periods of the match.

What they did not need, then, was to have three goals gift-wrapped for them.

But that is exactly what Rovers did for Jonathan Douglas’ 16th-minute opener and a quickfire second-half double from Andre Gray and Jota after Rudy Gestede had restored parity on the stroke of half-time.

The deserved defeat means the Ewood Park outfit slip to eighth in the standings and four points behind the play-offs going into the first of three games in nine days.

It also means they now find themselves five points adrift of the Bees who, on this evidence, look genuine promotion candidates.

Rovers, in contrast, resembled anything but.

All the talk pre-match centred around two players set to face their former clubs.

Alan Judge admitted on the morning of the match he left Rovers for the second time in the summer feeling he had not been given a ‘fair crack of the whip’.

Jordan Rhodes has fonder memories of the goal-laden loan spell he enjoyed at Brentford at the start of his prolific career.

But the striker, one of his side’s better performers in their home loss to Sheffield Wednesday one week earlier, found himself on the bench.

Rhodes was replaced in the starting line-up by Ryan Tunnicliffe as Rovers boss Bowyer reverted to the 4-5-1 formation he is increasingly favouring on the road.

But he must have been having second thoughts after the Bees took a 15th minute lead through another of their Ewood old boys.

Mark Warburton’s men were good value for it.

Chasing a sixth home win in their last seven outings, they were faster out of the traps and went close in the fifth minute when Gray nicked the ball off Grant Hanley on the edge of the area and saw his shot deflect just wide, Corry Evans getting back to block.

But Douglas, who came through the Rovers ranks and made 24 appearances for the club before signing for Leeds United in the summer of 2006, was not to be denied 11 minutes later.

A cross from the right was flicked toward the back post by Hanley where Marshall was unable to clear.

The ball broke to left-back Jake Bidwell and his driven cross-shot was flicked in by the unmarked Douglas.

Rovers threatened for the first time in the 27th minute when Marshall curled a 30-yard free kick wide.

But they would have fallen further behind had Shane Duffy not made a block from a goal-bound Jota effort.

Duffy then spared the blushes of centre-back partner Hanley after he was done for pace by Gray.

The ball fell to Pritchard, whose stinging attempt was turned behind by Jason Steele.

The let-offs sparked Rovers into life and Marshall took a pass from Lee Williamson and tested David Button for the first time.

A brave block from Tony Craig then stopped Gestede from turning in a cross from man-of-the-match Markus Olsson before Tunnicliffe’s poor pass prevented Alex Baptiste from having a clear run at goal.

The recalled Tunnicliffe was one of Rovers’ better players in the opening period and he would have latched on to a Craig Conway pass had the excellent Harlee Dean not got back to throw in a vital challenge.

But the pressure paid off in first-half injury-time when Tunnicliffe and Gestede combined to sweep the ball out wide to Conway.

The winger ran at Bidwell before standing the ball up to the back post toward Gestede, whose acrobatic volley was on target but needed a deflection to beat the wrong-footed Button.

The top-scorer’s 12th goal of the campaign, and his fifth in as many away games, should have acted as the spur for Rovers to kick on after the restart.

But, after Steele saved from Jota, shambolic defending gave Gray the chance to stab Brentford back in front in the 54th minute.

Infuriatingly it took going behind for Rovers to get going again and in the 58th minute Marshall should have equalised.

Gestede’s cushioned header down evaded Conway but came to Marshall who, with the goal at his mercy, could only lash the ball against the post.

It proved a costly miss as three minutes later the ball deflected off Conway into the path of Jota and, with the Rovers defence all at sea, he confidently clipped it past the advancing Steele.

Bowyer threw on Rhodes and David Dunn and the latter immediately sent a shot down Button’s throat.

Button then raced out of his goal to smother the ball at the feet of Rhodes, who then touched a cross from Olsson the wrong side of the post and blazed horribly over after a Gestede knock down.

But it was all too little, too late.

Brentford: Button, Odubajo, Craig, Dean, Bidwell, Douglas, Diagouraga, Jota (Dallas 76), Pritchard (Smith 87), Judge, Gray (Proschwitz 87). Subs not used: Bonham, Saunders, Toral, Tarkowski.

Booked: Diagouraga.

Goals: Douglas 16, Gray 54, Jota 61.

Rovers: Steele, Baptiste (Lowe 79), Hanley, Duffy, Olsson, Marshall, Williamson (Dunn 67), Evans, Tunnicliffe, Conway (Rhodes 67), Gestede. Subs not used: Eastwood, Henley, Varney, Songo’o.

Booked: Baptiste, Williamson.

Goal: Gestede 45.

Referee: Andy Woolmer.

Attendance: 11,848.