Brentford had Farid El Alagui to thank as his double steered the home side through into the second round of the Capital One Cup with a 3-2 win over Dagenham & Redbridge at Griffin Park on Tuesday night.
The striker, returning from injury, came off the bench to make the difference in a tie which saw Bees' boss Uwe Rosler make ten changes from the side which opened the league season at Port Vale on Saturday.
The unfamiliar side fell behind when on loan Cardiff defender Ben Nugent steered a ball into the box past Jack Bonham to mark his home debut with an own goal.
Stuart Dallas and Sam Saunders both shot wide at the other end as the Bees went into the break a goal behind.
It took El Alagui only eight minutes to make a difference when he entered the fray and after a couple of shots were blocked inside Dagenham's box fired home with his left foot.
Brentford doubled their lead two minutes later when Czech international Martin Fillo calmly slotted a Dallas pass into the bottom right hand corner.
Yet just as it looked as if the Bees had done the hard work they allowed the Daggers to equalise with just nine minutes remaining when Josh Scott scored from close range at the back post.
With the match heading towards extra time El Alagui headed a free kick home from around the penalty spot to send Brentford through to the next round.
Brentford: Bonham, Venta, O'Connor (sub Craig h/t), Nugent, Barron; Fillo, Reeves, Saunders, Dallas, Oyeleke (sub El Alagui 54), Hayes
Subs (not used): Button, Adams, Pierre, Clarke, Hacker
Attendance: 3582
Man of the Match: Farid El Alagui
Goals: El Alagui 62, 90, Filo 64
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