NATHAN COLLINS endured a nightmare reunion with Wolves gifting his old club TWO goals as Brentford slipped closer to the relegation fight.
Brentford’s club record signing, who joined in a £22million deal from Molineux last summer, made a complete hash of his return from injury.
Bees fans would have been delighted to see the defender back having been absent since November, but his former teammates were even happier by the end.
Collins handed Gary O’Neil’s men a goal in each half, looking like a prime playmaker by setting up Hwang Hee-Chan’s second strike and playing his part Jean-Ricner Bellegarde’s late finish.
Mario Lemina had opened the scoring in a chaotic first half in which Yoane Wissa grabbed Brentford’s only goal.
A fourth straight defeat leaves Thomas Frank’s depleted side just four points off the bottom three after five losses in their last six.
But most Bees fans will be praying that, just like their in-laws, they won’t see this shape until at least next Christmas.
The Bees boss had called for a fast start but his side were sloppy from the off.
Vitaly Janelt almost put Hwang’s low cross into his own net from just yards out, sparking three frantic minutes.
The Bees failed to clear the resulting corner and ended up shipping a cheap opener, leaving Lemina unmarked at the back post to make it two goals in two games with his header from Pablo Sarabia’s cross.
If the opener was cheap, the second just 80 seconds later was a disaster.
Collins went to play a simple pass back to his keeper, Mark Flekken, but did not put enough on the pass, allowing Hwang to steal in, round the goalie and collect his easiest goal of the season.
It brought instant relief and a shot of hope to a Brentford side short on confidence after their recent run of five defeats in their last six.
That feeling didn’t last long though.
Having almost got level when Janelt drew a good stop from Jose Sa from six yards, it wasn’t long before the Bees were trudging back to halfway once again.
The defender sent a clearance up towards Wissa, who stood and waited for it to fall allowing Toti to nip in front and crash a header forwards.
Toti’s clearance fell to Hwang, who quickly spun and left Ethan Pinnock in a spin with a wonderful flick before restoring the two goal cushion with a clinical finish.
It was the finish of a striker in form and bursting with confidence, just the sort this Brentford side are missing with Ivan Toney still suspended.
Brentford were much improved after a talking to, with Keane Lewis-Potter twice testing Sa and delivering a number of dangerous crosses which were not attacked by teammates – another shortfall Toney would address.
He won’t help out at the back, though, where Collins was still having a shocker.
With the game petering out, the 22-year-old decided to offer up some more entertainment by rolling another daft ball into the path of Matheus Cunha who raced forward and selflessly teed up Bellegarde to round off a perfect night for Wolves.
