DANNY WARD, Lee Novak and Benik Afobe provided the positives as Town received a warning blast across the bows ahead of their League I play-off semi-final showdown with AFC Bournemouth.
All three showed their sharpness in front of goal during a madcap match of shots, shots and more shots.
But boss Lee Clark will spend some of this week addressing the issues which led to his side throwing away the lead three times, a habit which must be nipped in the bud.
To be fair, it was out of character, and at least Town stretched their amazing unbeaten League I run to 25 games ahead of their two crunch clashes with the Cherries, who won’t be happy at having gone down 2-1 at home to Rochdale.
Two hundred and fifty miles to the North, Ward’s impressive early double provided a solid foundation for the Galpharm side.
But Brentford kept chipping away and were rewarded with two goals apiece for Jeffery Schlupp and Lewis Grabban.
Town could still have won it, because Kevin Kilbane, who Clark wanted to rest but was brought off the bench to help provide some solidity, had an 89th-minute header cleared off the line by fellow substitute Nathan Byrne before Ward whacked in a shot which was pushed for a corner by Simon Moore.
Bolton loanee Ward showed the power and accuracy of his shooting as he claimed the winner at Brighton seven days previously, and this clash was peppered with his sizzling shots, two of which had the better of the Brentford keeper.
He had already put one narrowly wide and stung Moore’s fingers after being set up by Afobe by the time the opener arrived in the 13th minute, when he drilled the ball home after seizing on Marcus Bean’s misplaced pass.
His second, also fired in from the edge of the penalty area, came two minutes later as he advanced past two defenders before unleashing an effort which Moore got his hands to but couldn’t prevent from crossing the line.
Joey Gudjonsson blocked from Bean, and the visiting midfielder then brought a great save from Ian Bennett, who pushed away his sweetly-struck long-ranger for a corner.
Then the busy Sam Saunders threaded through a pass to Grabban, who put his shot only just wide.
