Josh Dasilva and David Raya both played for more than an hour as Brentford were beaten by Aston Villa in a behind closed doors friendly at Villa Park this afternoon. Josh scored in the first half as Brentford went in at the break ahead. But Villa turned it around with Ollie Watkins equalising early in the second period and Tyrone Mings headed the winner inside the final 20 minutes.

Both David and Josh were heavily involved against a strong Villa side, who had the better of the chances. Mathias Jensen also returned to action after suffering a head injury against Wolverhampton Wanderers last week. Mathias played 90 minutes in the centre of midfield as part of a line-up that included a number of Brentford B players.

David made a string of saves in the first part of the match, as Villa pressed forward. He tipped a header from Kortney Hause over the crossbar and made a low stop from Jacob Ramsey. He also denied Danny Ings on a couple of occasions, getting down well.

The one time he was beaten in the first period was when Ings tapped in from close range. That came after Raya had denied Carney Chukwuemeka with a good low save. Ings was offside and the goal was ruled out. There were chances for Villa, but The Bees were well-organised in defence and most of the efforts came from long range.

Brentford went in at half time ahead thanks to the work of Dasilva. He reacted when Hause miss-controlled slightly and made a tackle. He broke in to the penalty area and fired across Robin Olsen and in to the far corner from a tight angle.

Dasilva also blocked a header from Lucas Digne at the other end while a couple of important clearances from Daniel Oyegoke, Mads Roerslev getting in the way of a Morgan Sanson shot and the work of Raya enabled Brentford to lead at the interval. Jensen made a block from John McGinn early in the second half, but Villa levelled when Watkins fired in from the edge of the penalty area. Raya and Dasilva left as planned a few moments later.

Álvaro Fernández got down well to save from McGinn and Chukwuemeka fired wide before Villa scored the winner. The home side kept the pressure on as Brentford dealt with a corner and Douglas Luiz found space on the left. He twisted, turned and crossed for Mings to rise highest and power a header past Fernández from ten yards.

Brentford continued to limit Villa’s chances, with the hosts having a lot of the ball in front of The Bees. Brentford could have levelled when Oyegoke’s work on the left set up a shooting chance for Shandon Baptiste, but the effort was blocked. That was enough to give Villa the win.

Brentford: Raya (sub Fernández 63 mins); Roerslev, Bech, Oyegoke; Stevens, Dasilva (sub Haygarth 63 mins), Jensen, Baptiste, Gordon (sub Crama 63 mins); Peart-Harris (sub Gilbert 81 mins), Young-Coombes