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Brentford came from behind to advance to the automatic promotion spots of the Sky Bet Championship with an entertaining 2-1 win over fit Bournemouth.
Dominic Solanke gave the Cherries the lead midway through the first half when he threw Lloyd Kelly’s cross into the roof of the net.
But the Bees fought back before the break as Henrik Dalsgaard climbed high at the near post to propel an unstoppable header from Mathias Jensen’s corner.
And they caught a winner 11 minutes from when substitute Tariqe Fosu led the teasing cross from Bryan Mbeumo to the far post.
This moved Thomas Frank’s side above Bournemouth and to second place, although Swansea will push them to third place if they beat Reading later on Wednesday.
The Cherries started off as a team that took advantage of an 11-day break and handed the game to their promotion rivals on the first whistle.
The hosts survived an early scare after 50 seconds as Jefferson Lerma broke free from the halfway point and fed Solanke, whose poorly-shot strike swung toward goal until Pontus Jansson cleared the line.
The first bee attack almost broke the deadlock. Dalsgaard’s withdrawal from signing found Mbeumo but he failed to secure the decisive touch at close range.
Philip Billing was causing all kinds of trouble for the hosts’ defense and almost caught up with David Brooks, but his effort was blocked by Rico Henry.
But it was only a temporary reprieve as Solanke returned home point blank in the 25th minute.
Winger Sergi Canos, a Cardiff Boxing Day treble hero for the bees, threw a low drive just after working an opening himself on the edge of the box.
Jensen tried to catch goalkeeper Asmir Begovic at the near post with a daring corner, but he parried flawlessly before being forced to a carbon copy save from the Canos drive seconds later.
The former Chelsea stopper was in action again 10 minutes before the break, diving full length to push Mbeumo’s weak drive to safety.
But the hosts equalized from the resulting corner – the first goal conceded by Bournemouth in over eight hours – and the teams went to the same level at the break, despite poor training from Jensen which shoved Begovic off course.
Canos should have done better just before the hour mark when he stepped in from the left and led the way to the goal, but his effort was high and wide.
On the other end, Brooks pricked David Raya’s fingertips at the near post while Josh Dasilva did the same with an Ivan Toney knockdown on the other end.
Brentford had the nose ahead thanks to Fosu and could have snatched a third timeout thanks to Jensen and replaced Saman Ghoddos at the break, but for big saves from Begovic.
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