Brentford U21s 6 Fleetwood Town U21s 1: Ethan Laidlaw scores hat-trick and Reiss Nelson strikes, as Keane Lewis-Potter also features

Brentford's first good chance came on nine minutes when Nelson ghosted past his full back and chipped a cross into a great area. Caelan Avenell met it with a strong right-footed volley but the Fleetwood bodies flung themselves in front of the ball to block well. Nelson then found a clever lifted ball into Theo Mawene minutes later.

Mawene took the ball to the byline before squeezing a cross along the six-yard box but Harrison Buckley intercepted before Shield could pounce. Reggie Rose was called into action on 15 minutes, when Owen Davenport whipped a dangerous free-kick across goal from a tight angle on the right, but the Brentford keeper punched away well. The Bees found the opener three minutes later after excellent work from Nelson and Laidlaw.

The latter forced Fleetwood's keeper into an error with excellent work off the ball, before Nelson was quickest to react, laying the ball unselfishly on a plate for Laidlaw to tap into an empty net. Mawene almost had a goal of the season contender on 25 minutes, slaloming past four Fleetwood defenders before unleashing a rocket from his right boot that rattled the crossbar. On 31 minutes, Nelson showed his class again to double the Bees' lead.

Receiving the ball on the left after a misplaced Fleetwood pass, he beat his man with two quick stepovers and buried a wonderful strike, curling away from the keeper and nestling into the bottom-right corner to make it 2-0. Sam Saunders' side had stepped it up a gear and had a third two minutes later as Laidlaw doubled his tally for the day. He picked up the ball 40 yards out, bringing the ball down superbly and driving at the heart of the Fleetwood defence before firing his strike in off the post.