Kingsley Eshun’s late goal proved the only highlight this morning as a nightmare first half at Sparrows Lane saw Brentford’s Youth Team thrashed by a ruthless Charlton Athletic.

The Addicks took the lead after just three minutes when trialist Shilow Tracey beat Cameron Greaves and his second, plus strikes from Chris Millar, Sulimain Bah and a brace from Terrique Anderson, sealed the win before the half-time whistle.

Captain George Lapslie walked the ball past Greaves to extend the lead after an hour, before Eshun found time and space to curl in a delightful consolation with six minutes to play.

The match saw Jeremiah Kamanzi make his first start of the season at right-back; Seth Owens stepped up his return from injury after being sidelined since August with a foot problem whilst Reece Cole and Danny Parish replaced Tony Guppy and Courtney Austin, respectively.

Last season’s Professional Development League Two South playoff winners started the game at a very high tempo and before Brentford could even begin to settle into the game, they were behind.

Tracey was allowed far too much time down the left flank and he made his way into the box unchallenged, before dropping his shoulder and curling a shot round Greaves.

Falling behind early on clearly shell-shocked the Bees and they struggled to contain Lapslie, who was at the heart of every action early on, and six minutes after falling behind, Tracey grabbed a second.

Lapslie’s pass was ahead of Kamanzi and, having just returned from injury, the full-back could be forgiven for being beaten for pace by Jordan Zemura, who crossed for Tracey to swivel and fire home.

Brentford’s frustration was becoming evident, and their only two chances of the half – both Reece Cole free-kicks in prime positions on the edge of the box – were easily mopped up by Jordan Beeney.

And after 22 minutes, the game was effectively over when Charlton once again attacked down the left flank, neither Cole nor Julius Fenn-Evans could put a tackle in and Zemura picked out Millar, whose low drive further extended the advantage.

Jon De Souza’s boys were unrecognisable from previous weeks and seemed to be afraid to put in challenges on the wet surface, and thus slipped further behind in a nightmare ten-minute spell before half-time.

Despite looking marginally offside, Anderson scored his fifth of the season on the half-hour after he was given time on the ball, before Tracey squared for Bah to turn home for 5-0.

The misery continued when Zach Birse slipped when attempting to intercept an innocuous ball from Cole back into defence; Zemura’s low shot was palmed away by Greaves and into the path of Anderson who tapped the loose ball over the line.

Ten minutes into the second-half, Ian Carlo Poveda had a golden opportunity to pull a goal back but the attacking midfielder went for glory, when perhaps a square ball to top scorer Courtney Austin would have been the better option.

Charlton put nine goals past Brentford’s fierce rivals QPR earlier in the season and looked on course to match that as Lapslie danced through the defence, rounded Greaves and walked his side’s seventh goal over the line; substitute Daniel Bowry was inches away from making it eight, but couldn’t connect with Zemura’s over-hit cross.

Perhaps the sole highlight came in the final minutes of the drubbing when Kingsley Eshun scored undoubtedly the goal of the day.

Charlton had only conceded eleven league goals all season, and they probably won’t concede many as good as this; fellow substitute Courtney Austin worked his way out of trouble and passed to Eshun who took one touch and bent a shot out of the reach of Beeney, into the top right corner.

Nonetheless, the defeat leaves Brentford without a win in their last three games, and hoping for a positive result against Crystal Palace next weekend.

Brentford: Cameron Greaves, Jeremiah Kamanzi (Courtney Austin 46), Zach Birse, Seth Owens (Sean Bird 65), George Harmes, Reece Cole, Julius Fenn-Evans, Luke Dunn, Josh Bohui (Kingsley Eshun 65), Ian Carlo Poveda, Danny Parish Subs (not used): Harry Francis, David Titov

Charlton Athletic: Jordan Beeney, Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu, Jordan Zemura, Taylor Maloney (Romarno Simpson 46), Elan Assiana, Kenneth Yao, George Lapslie (Timi Abraham 65), Chris Millar, Terrique Anderson, Sulaiman Bah, Shilow Tracey (Daniel Bowry 73) Subs (not used): Aiden Prall, Alfie Doughty