Brentford ended Grimsby Town's impressive Carabao Cup run with a 5-0 victory in the fourth round at Blundell Park. The League Two side, who had beaten Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday on their way to reaching this stage, were comprehensively beaten by the Premier League outfit despite a strong start to the game where another upset looked a real possibility. But goals from Mathias Jensen, Keane Lewis-Potter and Reiss Nelson extinguished those hopes, before Fabio Carvalho and Nathan Collins added to their advantage after the break.
It is not going to be a quick fix, like I said last week. I looked at the stats and it seems they gave up a lot of possession to Oxford. Gary Rowett's team has better players now and more ways to hurt the opposition. I always felt it was going to be a tough game. Chris Wilder had success last year being a transition team.
Not good enough clearly, what we did especially in the first half. I think we gave the game to them, clearly, straight away, exactly what they wanted. Win duels, second balls, set plays. We fought back but I think that was the minimum that we could show to the fans that travelled today, for ourselves, for the club, but clearly not good enough.
Paired together for their first meeting since a 1-1 draw in 1948, interest in the tie at Blundell Park was so high that League Two Grimsby's website crashed almost immediately. "We had to put a pause on the website until we regrouped on the Thursday morning," said Bancroft. "My phone went crazy. It was a pinch me moment for everyone connected to Grimsby Town."