PERHAPS the only consolation was that you had your pick of pubs in which to drown your sorrows as this was a Rovers defensive display so disastrous it was enough to turn you to drink.

Forget about the recent unbeaten run masking a slump in performances, it is clear, after a second successive self-inflicted reverse, that those nine games without defeat allowed us to temporarily forget what a soft underbelly this Rovers side has.

It is now nine matches since their last clean sheet and the 31 league goals they have conceded is more than any other team in the top half.

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It is simply not good enough, certainly not for a side with ambitions of promotion, and it is has been going on for too long now.

But it is not the only problem boss Gary Bowyer and his coaching staff must fix.

The other pressing issue that remains frustratingly unresolved is why it Rovers must go a goal behind before they get going.

They have now conceded first in 12 of their 21 Championship games and have been in front at half-time in only three of them.

When questioned, Bowyer and his players have been unable to identify the reason for the lacklustre first-half displays, stating the only way to get to the bottom of it is hard work on the training ground.

That is fair enough. However, without proof of improvement in this area, their words are in danger of becoming mere platitudes.

Their call to reward the 1,500 fans who made the trip to Griffin Park for what was Rovers’ final away outing before Christmas certainly sounded hollow after they were comfortably beaten by a vibrant Bees team.

Yes Bowyer was right to say Ben Marshall’s gilt-edged opportunity, sandwiched between Andre Gray putting Brentford back in front and Jota killing the contest, was a pivotal moment.

But try telling the travelling fans, who packed out the four pubs located on each corner of the ground before kick-off, their side did not deserve exactly what they got.

You cannot defend as badly as they did for the Bees’ three goals and expect to get anything out of the match.

Rovers did show their customary fight and, with Jordan Rhodes and David Dunn off the bench, had they managed to take one of the chances that came their way in the final 20 minutes it would have set up an interesting finale.

But that begs the question would they not have been better starting with Rhodes instead of an extra midfielder?

You could see Bowyer’s logic of going 4-5-1 given Brentford’s home record, but it was only after the arrival of Rhodes and Dunn, who produced another lively cameo, that the Bees were pegged back.

And given Rovers’ inability to keep the opposition out is their best form of defence not attack?

But there was only team doing the attacking for the first 30 minutes and that was Mark Warburton’s men.

They fully deserved the lead given to them by Rovers old boy Jonathan Douglas.

Markus Olsson offered Moses Odubajo the chance to send over a cross that Grant Hanley and Marshall failed to clear.

The ball broke to Jake Bidwell and his driven-cross shot was turned past Jason Steele by the unmarked Douglas.

It took Rovers, unbeaten in their previous five away matches, until the 35th minute before they tested David Button.

It kick-started a sustained period of pressure that top-scorer Rudy Gestede capped with his 12th goal of the season on the stroke of half-time, acrobatically volleying home a cross from Craig Conway with the aid of a deflection off Tony Craig.

But within nine minutes of the restart, Brentford were back in front.

All afternoon Rovers were sluggish in their pressing, from back to front, with Jota the main beneficiary.

The Spanish midfielder was allowed to cut inside and play a ball over the top to Gray who, with Shane Duffy at sixes and sevens, got away with a terrible first touch before stabbing home.

Rovers, once again, responded and only Marshall will know had he managed to smack the ball against the post from Gestede’s knockdown.

It proved a costly miss as three minutes later Jota latched on an attempted clearance from Conway tand confidently stroked the ball past the exposed Steele.

Rovers had further opportunities, through Marshall and former Bees loanee Rhodes.

But it was all too little, too late.