It was a performance that warranted more going by the chances created but the side were unable to make their dominance pay against a resolute Swedish outfit.

Nathan Young-Coombes kept up his wonderful scoring form as he netted early on but a header from Marcus Olsson quickly levelled things. A defensive mishap on 15 minutes led to Halmstads’ second and the Bees were unable to battle back as they end the tournament with three points from their three matches.

It was a positive start from The Bees as they created a good opening when Jaakko Oksanen did well to keep a Daniel Oyegoke cross alive as he flicked the ball into the path of Young-Coombes, but the young striker was crowded out before he could capitalise on the chance.

Just a couple of minutes later The Bees were ahead. A fantastic counter-attack saw Haygarth drive forwards before finding Myles Peart-Harris. The cross then came in low and Young-Coombes found the far corner with a composed finish as he has done so often this season.

Brentford weren't ahead for long, though, as they conceded from a seat piece. A curled delivery from a corner found the head of Olsson and he made no mistake in heading home to make it 1-1.

Four minutes later it became 2-1 as Halmstads took the lead in fortunate circumstances for them. The Bees had an opportunity to clear, and as Oyegoke aimed to bring the ball out, his powerful attempted clearance crashed against the leg of Tristan Crama and the ball rebounded past Matt Cox and ended up in the net.

As the first half continued, Val Adedokun threatened down the left-hand side as he curled a wonderful cross into the box on 28 minutes but the Halmstads defender managed to flick the ball away from danger as the Brentford attack raced in on goal.

Cox was called into action on 32 minutes when he saved low from Erik Ahlstrand. It could have been 2-2 going into half-time when Haygarth saw his low effort from distance well blocked before another cross from Adedokun eventually found its way to Oyegoke but he miscued.

The Bees made three changes at the break with the likes of Roy Syla, Ryan Trevitt and Lewis Gordon entering the field of play. Just before the hour mark Trevitt crossed fantastically towards the far post but the sliding Jefferies was unable to connect.

Substitute Alex Gilbert was next to try his luck as his shot from distance was well tipped over by the goalkeeper in what was a dominant second period. Trevitt also shot wide before Aaron Pressley was called upon from the bench as he stepped up his return from injury with 15 minutes of game time. The youngster will return to AFC Wimbledon to continue his loan period once fully fit. He had a great chance on 78 minutes from close range which was well blocked.

Good work from Deji Sotona then set up Trevitt late on but his shot from just inside the box edged over as The Bees were left frustrated.

Brentford B: Cox (Rees, 74) Oyegoke (Trialist, 74) Russell (Gordon, 45) Hockenhull (Trevitt, 45) Haygarth (Pressley, 74), Jefferies (Sotona, 60) Young-Coombes, Oksanen (Syla, 45) Adedokun (Gilbert, 60) Crama, Peart-Harris (Maghoma, 60)

Subs not used:Jones, Hercules

Halmstads BK: Pahlsson, Boakye, A. Johansson, Baffoe, Allansson, Lundervall, Boman, Tot-Wilkstrom, Karlsson, Olsson, Alexander Johansson

Subs: Nilsson, Berntsson, Svedberg, Dahlstrom, Karim, Kroon, Ahlstrand, Carlsson, Murro, Bengtsson, Gudmundsson, Nilsson, Parallangaj, Sjoland