Brentford B fell just short in their bid to win the Premier League Cup on Thursday evening, suffering a 3-1 defeat to west London rivals Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road in a hard-fought final.
Despite a quick response to going a goal down with a Benjamin Arthur header, a firm volley from distance edged the Hoops ahead in the first period. There were chances to equalise as Iwan Morgan and Ashley Hay went closest in the second half, but the hosts grabbed a late third to win the derby and deny the Bees a second title in three years.
Tony Yogane and Hay were making their first starts for the B team since returning from loan spells in League One and Two respectively.
Harry Murphy had the home side’s first chance of the game as he dragged a shot from the edge of the box just wide despite being in acres of space.
On nine minutes, QPR opened the scoring as Kieran Morgan found space in the middle of the penalty area after pouncing on a good cross from Emmerson Sutton and finished past Julian Eyestone.
The Bees equalised five minutes later from their first set-piece of the game. Ethan Brierley delivered a sublime cross to Arthur, who powered a header past Matteo Salamon.
Arthur almost grabbed his second of the evening shortly afterwards, drawing a great save from the QPR goalkeeper. Salamon then stood up quickly to make an acrobatic stop to deny Max Dickov’s powerful shot.
Both sides had good periods of possession but on 39 minutes, the home side went ahead again as Murphy smashed a volley from outside the box into the top corner of the net via a wicked deflection.
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