Joel Atkin and Louis Dunne both scored doubles as Colchester United beat Brentford 5-3 in their Under-18 Professional Development League Two South fixture at a sodden Florence Park this morning.
The Bees went into the game top of the table and took the lead midway through the first-half as Zain Westbrooke capitalised on an error from Callum Robinson in the home goal.
Colchester hit back almost instantly as Dunne grabbed his first with an angled drive.
Brentford re-took the lead ten minutes into the second-half as Makhosini Khanye waltzed through The Us defence but again the hosts hit back instantly through Atkin.
Dunne scored his second on the hour and George Brown added a fourth for the hosts five minutes later.
Reece Cole gave The Bees hope with a quarter of an hour to go but Atkin put the result beyond doubt inside the final five minutes to wrap up just The Us second home win of the season.
With Gradi Milenge and Courtney Senior having gone out on loan and a number of players involved in Monday's Under-21s match at Bristol City Jon's side had an unfamiliar look to it.
Dan Webster, Romayn Pennant and Luke Dunn all came in for first starts of the season while striker Courtney Austin returned from a broken toe which had kept him out since the opening weeks of the season.
The match kicked off in awful conditions with a gale force wind sweeping across the pitch and torrential rain turning an already soft pitch into a bog in the midfield.
With such poor playing conditions it was clear from the outset that there would be a lot of mistakes in the game as The Bees tried to implement their passing game on a pitch that cut up from the opening seconds.
A poor Greaves goal kick was pounced upon by Atkin but he dragged his shot across the face of the goal.
Khanye shot straight at Robinson before the home keeper made a fine block save to deny Bradley Clayton as Brentford looked to start strongly.
Another piece of sloppy play in Brentford's backline gave Chris Oti the chance to break the deadlock but he headed over from six yards.
Dunne shot just past the angle of post and bar before Brentford took the lead in the 24th minute as Austin's pressure forced Robinson to miscue his goal kick and Westbrooke had the simple task of rolling into an open net.
Having worked hard to get in front Jon De Souza's side promptly handed the advantage back to Colchester as Dunne broke through a weak tackle inside the box and found the bottom corner from 15 yards.
Greaves made a good save to turn away Brown's fierce drive and Milo Downey shot wide from the edge of the box as the game continued to be an open affair.
Cole struck the outside of the post from the edge of the box while at the other end Oti lashed wildly over the bar from close range.
Dunne brought the best out of Greaves in the dying seconds of the half with a shot from the edge of the box as the teams went in at half-time all square.
Brentford started the second-half brightly and how they didn't score in a mad ten second spell may never be known as Clayton poked past Robinson and Austin missed his kick from five yards before Dunn slid in to tap home but slid past the ball.
Austin shot over after great work from Cole in the midfield but The Bees did eventually get back ahead as Khanye drove through the home defence and curled a sublime shot past Robinson.
However, as in the first-half, The Bees lead didn't last long as Atkin struck back less than two minutes later finding the corner from the the middle of the penalty area.
Colchester then took the lead for the first-time on the hour as Webster over-played in the slippery conditions on the edge of the box and Dunne punished him ruthlessly as the Colchester winger's shot evaded the stretch of Greaves.
The hosts had only won once at home in nine outing this campaign but they added a fourth with 25 minutes remaining as Greaves allowed Brown's weak shot to squirm through his hands and the ball just had the legs to cross the line.
As open as The Bees had been at the back over the course of the opening 65 minutes they were looking very dangerous going forward and were creating enough chances to suggest they could get back into the game.
Dunn slashed at a shot from just inside the box and it flew the wrong side of the post before Cole showed him how it was done curling home from the edge of the box to make it 4-3 with a quarter of an hour to go.
Greaves atoned for his error by making a fine sprawling save to deny Harrison from close range but there was nothing he could do with five minutes remaining as Atkin grabbed his second after good work on the left by Dunne.
Diaz Heenan could have added a sixth in the dying seconds but Greaves did well to hold his shot which bounced awkwardly just in front of The Bees stopper as Jon De Souza's side slipped to a third straight defeat in all competitions.
: Callum Robinson; Jamie Stephens, Joe Tennent, Cameron James, Marley Andrews; George Brown, Callum Harrison, Milo Downey, Louis Dunne; Chris Oti (sub Diaz Heenan 65 minis), Joel Atkin
: Osase Wilson, Joshua Pollard, Josee Syreti, Aaron Cosgrave
: Cameron Greaves; Chris Mepham, Dan Webster, Tom Field, Romayn Pennant; Luke Dunn, Reece Cole, Zain Westbrooke, Makhosinin Khanye; Courtney Austin (sub Danny Parish 62 mins), Bradley Clayton
: Tony Guppy, Jeremiah Kamanzi