A Jordan Rhodes hat trick within the opening half hour put Brentford on their way to a sublime 3-1 victory over fellow promotion hopefuls Shrewsbury Town at the Prostar Stadium on Saturday, writes Simon Webster.

Despite a brief rally in the second half Shrewsbury were unable to contain an inventive Bees side which looked far more likely to achieve promotion at the end of the season.

After notching his first goal in midweek against Aldershot Rhodes was full of confidence, but even he would have been amazed at the quality of his first half ‘perfect’ hat trick.

His display left boss Andy Scott facing inevitable questions afterwards about how long he can hang onto his new loan signing.

“The phone calls have already gone in [to Ipswich]! I knew he was a good player.

"That’s the first of many senior hat tricks and he is going to go on and be a top, top player. If we can help him develop and play games he is always going to score goals because he is a threat.

"We haven’t had any more feedback from Ipswich. We have asked the question and we hope to speak to them tomorrow and get something tied up by Monday.”

After brushing aside Aldershot in midweek with one of their most accomplished displays of the season it was no surprise to see the Bees field an unchanged side.

Brentford stunned the home side by taking the lead after only two minutes when Adam Newton knocked a long ball into the path of Rhodes on the right hand side of the field, who chested the ball down and hit a wonderful half volley past Luke Daniels into the top left hand corner of the net.

Rhodes grabbed his second 15 minutes later when he read the play well and latched onto a ball six yards out, slipping it under Daniels with his left foot and into the bottom right hand corner.

Ten minutes later Rhodes had wrapped up his first hat trick in senior football – in the process becoming Brentford’s youngest ever scorer of a first team hat trick – when he rose to head home an Adam Newton cross from six yards out.

Shrewsbury made two substitutions at half time and while they made life uncomfortable for the Bees at times never looked like seriously finding a way back into the match.

After the hour mark David Hibbert evaded the offside trap but as he got off his shot just inside the box Ben Hamer made a superb block with his feet to deny him.

Shrewsbury did pull a goal back midway through the half when a Ben Davies free kick to the back post was nodded back across goal and Grant Holt stabbed the ball home.

Brentford were able to hold on quite comfortably and now head north again on Tuesday night to face Morecambe.

Having slipped up on previous forays north this season to less than glamorous locations Scott knows the Bees must remain focused this time.

“We need to make sure that this is a massive three points for us. But we’ve got to set the record straight at Morecambe on Tuesday night.

"We’ve not done well at Chester and Macclesfield and we need to make sure we go and get another three points now.”

Brentford: Hamer, Halls (sub Osborne 73), Phillips, Bennett, Dickson; Newton (sub Williams 73), Bean, O’Connor, Wood; Rhodes, MacDonald

Subs (not used): Simon Brown, Hunt, Poole

Attendance: 5,674

Man of the Match: Jordan Rhodes

Goals: Rhodes 2, 17, 29

Match Rating: 5/6.