A BRACE of second-half headers earned Brentford a 2-0 win over Tranmere and pushed Rovers into the League One drop zone.

Tranmere hit the crossbar twice in the first 45 minutes but it was the closest they came as goals from James Tarkowski and Clayton Donaldson gave the Bees all three points.

Assistant manager John McMahon named an unchanged starting 11, while Callum Morris replaced James Rowe on the substitutes' bench. McMahon said Rovers were beaten by the better side.

In his post-match interview, he said: "They've got better players and when you come to a place like this, you expect them to have more of the ball. But we're disappointed.

"We needed the ones that hit the woodwork to go in for us. We can make excuses all day long, we can blame the referee but at the end of the day they were the better side.

"You're trying to give the lads a bit of confidence and tell them to get on the ball and try to play football but the first time we get it there's a massive difference between being composed and casual and we were certainly casual in the first couple of minutes.”

The defeat saw Rovers slip to 21st in the table.

McMahon added: "We've got to react to it. We're still fighting for our lives and however low everyone is feeling we've got to react, bring the positives out and get a valuable three points at home to Notts County.

"There's enough in that dressing room still with spirit, still with fight, still with character and still with ability to get us out of the hole that we're obviously in."