Early September might have seen the first of the season’s four international breaks but that didn’t mean it was quiet at Griffin Park. The summer transfer window closed on 1 September with young midfielder Ryan Woods joining The Bees on deadline day from Shrewsbury Town while Scott Hogan, who was still recovering from a serious knee injury, signed a one year contract extension to extend his Brentford stay until the summer of 2018. Three youngsters departed Griffin Park on loan as goalkeeper Nik Tzanev joined Lewes, Herson Rodrigues-Alves signed for Hampton and Richmond Borough, and Aaron Greene linked up with Boston United while Josh Laurent extended his stay at Newport County for a further month.

Two of Brentford’s Scandinavian players enjoyed mixed fortunes as they met up with their international team-mates for important qualification matches. Daniel O’Shaughnessy helped Finland’s Under-21s keep clean sheets in wins over Russia and the Faroe Islands as their Euro 2017 qualification got off to a perfect start but Lasse Vibe and Denmark’s hopes of progressing to Euro 2016 suffered a blow as they were held 0-0 in Armenia.

After two weeks without a match, Marinus Dijkhuizen and his Brentford players faced two tough away trips in four days as the league season resumed following the international break. It looked for a long time like it would be a winning return to action after a debut goal for Marco Djuricin at Elland Road against Leeds United. However Djuricin, Lasse Vibe, and Alan Judge all missed chances to double that advantage and The Bees were punished late on as Mirco Antenucci levelled for Uwe Rosler’s side. The game was also significant as captain Jake Bidwell made his 150th Bees appearance. Four days later and bogey team Middlesbrough were at it again as they wrapped up an eighth straight league win over The Bees thanks to two goals in the final 20 minutes. Cristhian Stuani guided Boro into a first-half lead but Vibe took advantage of a mistake by Dimi Konstantopoulos to level after the break. The introduction of Albert Adomah midway through the second-half swung the game back Boro’s way, the Ghanaian setting up Stuani for his second before scoring one himself. The defeat on Teeside also saw David Button pass 100 appearances for Brentford.

The Youth Team’s unbeaten start to the season came to an end as Bolton Wanderers struck three times from set-pieces to run out 3-1 winners in their match in the North West, Josh Bohui on target for The Bees.  A week later it was a similar story as goals early on in each half saw Huddersfield Town leave Jersey Road with the points after a 2-1 win. The Under-21s hardly fared much better on their trip to Hull City as James Ferry’s stunning 30-yard effort proved to no avail as The Tigers struck either side of half-time before adding a third late on to secure victory.

All at the club were saddened on 2 September to hear of the death of Hall of Fame inductee Ken Horne, aged 89 and there was further sad news later on in the month as scout, and brother of former Sporting Director Frank, Tony McParland died.