Mikkel Damsgaard stepped up his recovery from a knee injury with 45 minutes for a Brentford XI this afternoon.

It was the Dane’s first appearance since mid-August and came in a 3-1 defeat to a Bournemouth XI at the Vitality Stadium.

There was also an hour for Shandon Baptiste and Keane Lewis-Potter, as well as 90 minutes for Myles Peart-Harris and Charlie Goode as that quartet, like Damsgaard, continue to work their way back from injury.

The game also featured a number of B team players, including Ji-soo Kim, Val Adedokun, Ethan Brierley, Riley Owen, Romeo Beckham, Ethan Laidlaw and Tony Yogane.

The Bees worked hard from the start against a Cherries XI which included a number of full internationals and were rewarded with a first-half opener.

Damsgaard was involved in the early stages of the move which finished with Lewis-Potter being fouled in the area - Peart-Harris took responsibility from the spot and made no mistake.

Michael Olakigbe fired narrowly off target and Baptiste had a shot from 12 yards cleared off the line as the Bees created further openings.

At the other end, Thomas Strakosha was kept busy, one save to deny Kieffer Moore on the counter-attack a particular highlight.

After the break, Baptiste showed his trademark close control to weave through the Bournemouth backline before bringing an excellent full-stretch save out of the home keeper.

Eventually, however, the hosts would take victory thanks to late goals from Hamed Traore, David Brooks and Moore.