The difficulties of February and March were blown away in April as Dean Smith’s Bees roared back to form, scoring ten goals and picking up ten points in their opening four matches of the month. First to be put to the sword were Nottingham Forest as Lasse Vibe’s first goal of 2016, Nico Yennaris’s first goal for Brentford, and Sergi Canos’ fifth of the season secured a 3-0 victory at The City Ground. However, The Bees lost the services of Leandro Rodriguez following the match as he returned to Everton due to a hamstring injury picked up in the first-half. Three more goals and three more points arrived at Griffin Park the following Tuesday night as Bolton Wanderers were beaten 3-1 under the lights. Vibe scored twice to take himself into double figures for the season while Yennaris was again on target as any doubts about The Bees Championship survival were well and truly put to bed.
A perfect week on the pitch was completed in East Anglia four days later but it came at a cost as Player of the Year Alan Judge suffered a serious leg injury in an early challenge with Ipswich Town’s Luke Hyam. After the Irishman, who had made his 100th Bees appearance against Nottingham Forest a week earlier, was stretchered off, Sam Saunders put The Bees in front before Hyam was belatedly sent off just before half-time. Vibe continued his prolific April by adding two more second-half goals before Liam Feeney netted a late consolation for the hosts. You would have to look a long way back to find a more popular goal in recent years than the one which Scott Hogan scored to end 18 months of injury hell and grab an injury-time point against Bristol City. Hogan came on with Smith’s side 1-0 down to a Lee Tomlin strike and had an instant chance to level but Richard O’Donnell brilliantly saved his penalty. However, he wasn’t to be denied as he got the deftest of flicks to divert Jake Bidwell’s header into the net and spark an outpouring of joy on and off the pitch.
A young Brentford Under-21s were beaten 4-0 at Huddersfield Town as The Terriers proved too strong for Flemming Pedersen’s side. The Bees gave as good as they got for large spells of the game but Town’s power eventually told as they ran out easy winners. A week later and Pedersen’s team let a two goal lead slip to draw 3-3 with Crewe Alexandra in their final home game of the season. Jan Holldack’s brace, either side of one for Bradley Clayton, should have made it a winning end for The Bees but The Railwaymen netted twice in the final 20 minutes to secure a point. The campaign would end on a sour note for the Under-21s at Coventry City as a poor performance was punished by a 4-2 defeat, goals for Jan Holldack and Nathan Fox the only high points on a disappointing day in the West Midlands. A turbulent season for the Youth Team came to an end after a 2-2 draw away at Barnsley. Julius Fenn-Evans scored twice for The Bees to ensure that they avoided defeat in their final game of the season.
The club were pleased to confirm that on 1 April, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; the Rt Hon. Greg Clark MP approved the Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) for the land required for the new Brentford Community Stadium project. Awards' season began in mid-April and it was no surprise to see Alan Judge feature prominently as he was named in the Football League Team of the Season and also finished as a runner-up in the Sky Bet Championship Player of the Year vote to former teammate Andre Gray after scoring 14 goals and contributing 11 assists in a stellar campaign.