Brentford 5 Leeds 2: Bees fly up table thanks to brilliant Toney hat-trick as fuming Leeds boss Marsch sees red
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IVAN TONEY once again showed why he is the bees knees with a heroic hat-trick over Leeds.
England boss Gareth Southgate will surely be on the blower now as the striker made it 53 goals in 96 games for the West Londoners.
Since August 2018 Toney has hit the third most goals in English football, with 101, behind Harry Kane’s 113 and Mo Salah’s 115.
Leeds fought-back with goals from Luis Sinisterra and Marc Roca - but they were KO’d by late strikes from Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa.
It seemed Leeds hadn’t just fallen apart, but been blown into smithereens as fuming boss Jesse Marsch was SENT OFF for a furious rant during the second-half.
From kick-off it didn’t take long for drama to erupt between these two rivals, with TWO VAR checks in one go.
The chaos all began with a Mathias Jensen long throw which appeared to ricochet off Pascal Struijk’s arm.
There was then a foul from the Dutch centre-back on Toney amid the scramble.
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It prompted a lengthy VAR review for both incidents before Referee Robert Jones went over to the monitor.
Jones pointed to the spot and with who else but ice-cool Toney to step up on the half-hour mark.
The striker toyed with Illan Meslier, sending him the wrong way before rifling home an unstoppable strike to make it 18 penalties in 18 attempts.
Toney could smell blood and 13 minutes later he put the hosts firmly in the driving seat with a mouth-watering second.
Brentford had won a dangerous free-kick well outside the box after Shandon Baptiste’s twinkle toes were fouled by Robin Koch.
Toney stood over it and jaws hit the deck when he lashed it with venom beyond Leeds’ wall and into the top corner from 25-yards.
But just two minutes later, Luis Sinisterra got the visitors back in it as he latched onto a Ben Mee clearance, and beautifully flicked it over Rico Henry to unleash a low drive into the bottom corner.
The Colombian winger has enjoyed a sizzling start to life under Marsch since arriving from Feyenoord in July with two Prem goals in two after scoring on his debut against Everton.
Marsch brought on big gun Patrick Bamford after the break, but he was only firing blanks.
He wriggled into a pocket of space and fired from close-range but the heroic defending from Keane Lewis-Potter mopped up the damage.
The ex-Hull forward put in a shift up the other end and his magic footwork enticed Meslier out of his goal to slide in on him.
The French stopper’s kamikaze clearance left him stranded, allowing Toney to shimmy around him and ping an audacious chip into the empty net on 58 minutes.
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Tempers flared as substitute Crysencio Summerville’s shirt was pulled before he was shoved over by Aaron Hickey in the box - VAR took a look but decided that it wasn't a penalty.
It seemed Leeds hadn’t just collapsed, but been blown into dust as Marsch saw red for a furious rant well outside his technical area.
Bamford missed another sitter from three-yards out but shortly after Marc Roca picked up the pieces after steering Luke Ayling’s cross into the net on 79 minutes.
But Brentford were back in the driving seat with Mbeumo tucking into the goal-fest by slotting home a low strike after Mee’s floated cross was cleared into his path.
The goal was initially chalked off for offside - but a VAR check overturned the decision, raising the roof of the Gtech Community Stadium.
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Bees sub Wissa struck the killer fifth after taking full advantage of Diego Llorente’s dilly dallying on the ball to break free and slot home.
Mateusz Klich was booked for a tussle with Hickey late on as frustrations reached boiling point for the away side.