Brentford were beaten 2-1 by French side Bordeaux in a friendly during their pre-season camp in Girona.

Midfielder Alex Gilbert put the Bees ahead inside the opening 20 minutes, as he headed home a superb cross from B Team team-mate Ryan Trevitt.

But the opposition, who currently sit second in Ligue 2, fired back in the first half, first through Davitashvili, who danced his way through the defence and netted the equaliser.

Former Sunderland and Fulham striker Josh Maja then netted the winner from the spot just before the break, as the referee harshly penalised Ben Mee for a handball inside the area.

The teams

Brentford starting XI v Bordeaux

Thomas Frank played a 4-3-3 in both halves of our game against Bordeaux, but named a much-changed starting XI for the second half, switching five players at half-time.

The only players to play the full 90 minutes were Gilbert, Trevitt, Tristan Crama, Yehor Yarmoliuk and Michael Olakigbe.

Crama moved from right-back to centre-back for the second half, while Trevitt switched to centre-midfield from left-back, as Vitaly Janelt filled in at full-back.

Bordeaux played a narrow 4-4-2 system, which included former Brentford defender Yoann Barbet, who captained his boyhood club.

Brentford: Cox (Winterbottom 68); Crama, Zanka (Roerslev 46), Mee (Pinnock 46), Trevitt; Yarmoliuk, Gilbert, Dasilva (Janelt 46); Olakigbe, Toney (Wissa 46), Lewis-Potter (Canos 46)

Bordeaux: Straczek; Louis-Jean (Michelin 46), Bokele (Gregersen 46), Barbet (Blumla 46), Nsimba (Ekomie 46); Fransérgio (Bakwa 46), Delaurier-Chaubet (Ihnatenko 46), Mwanga (Lacoux 46), Davitashvili (De Lima 46); Maja (Martinez 46), Badji (Pirringuel 46)

First half

Alex Gilbert v Bordeaux

The first chance of the game came through 18-year-old Olakigbe, who received the ball on the right wing from Josh Dasilva, and, after a good touch, he cut inside and fired just wide of the far post.

And the goal, which came after eight minutes, was made by Olakigbe's B Team team-mates, after Trevitt cleverly controlled a switch from Zanka on his chest right on the byline, before bringing it down and whipping a delightful cross into the box.

Gilbert made a smart run from midfield into the box, before he met the cross and headed past Straczek in the Bordeaux goal to put the Bees ahead after 15 minutes.

The French side were behind for ten minutes, before Zuriko Davitashvili received the ball in the box, weaved his way past a couple of Brentford players, before taking it around Cox and firing into the corner.

And they scored their second shortly after, as Aliou Badji’s shot was blocked well by Ben Mee, but the referee decided that the centre-back had used his arm and gave a penalty.

Maja stepped up and fired his penalty in off the post, despite Cox diving the right way.

The Ligue 2 side had a few chances to extend their league before the break, which saw Junior Mwanga curl just wide, Davitashvili fire just past the post, and Cox tip a Barbet free-kick just over the crossbar.

Second half

Canos v Bordeaux

Bordeaux started the second half in a similar fashion to how he finished the first, as they applied pressure to the Brentford backline.

Bakiwa, who looked bright throughout the second 45 minutes, hit the post in the opening stages of the half.

Brentford kept the ball smartly throughout the half but struggled to create many chances, with the first real opportunity coming just after the hour mark through Olakigbe, who turned and fired high and wide.

Gilbert was looking for his second of the game and, when he broke into the box again, he had two bites of the cherry to bag his brace - his first was blocked and his second went over the bar.

Bakiwa was involved again moments later but, as he received the ball inside the box, his attempt was stopped well by Ben Winterbottom, who replaced Cox on the 68-minute mark.

Ethan Pinnock then had two chances to equalise, both from corners, as, first, his header into the ground bounced up and was tipped over by the goalkeeper, before his second headed effort was cleared off the line by a defender.

Yoane Wissa had the ball in the net with ten minutes to play after lofting it over the goalkeeper, but he was flagged offside, in what was the Bees' final chance of the game.