Brentford head coach Thomas Frank admitted his side must improve defensively after shipping four goals at Preston ahead of their weekend trip to Norwich.

The Bees were beaten 4-3 at Deepdale last night to remain 15th in the Championship table and stretch their winless streak to seven matches, 24 hours after the Canaries enjoyed a 2-1 home win over Aston Villa.

The long trip to Lancashire saw the Londoners fall 3-0 down inside 23 minutes to Alex Neil's team before Sergi Canos curled home a thumping effort from 25 yards to give his former City manager a scare, only to eventually lose 4-3.

'I think you can split it up into three areas,' new Brentford boss Frank said. 'I think the first is we conceded three goals, four goals in general but three goals quickly in 20 minutes.

'You can't concede four goals and think you're going to win. The first is the deflection where they get in behind and score, the second one, well done from them, it was good play and a top finish, the third one, I think it was offside. After that we didn't give up.

'In the second half, the first 20 minutes was really good. We got the goal, went closer, and then we didn't defend again good enough.

'We get it to 4-3 and you could see they were getting lower and lower. Overall, we attacked well and scored three goals away from home. It should be more than enough to win three points, we need to defend better in general.'

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Preston boss Neil saw Ollie Watkins reduce the arrears to 3-2 for the visitors but a second from Callum Robinson eased the pressure, before an 11th of the season from the Championship's top scorer Neal Maupay set up a nervy finish.

'I think we've been involved in a lot of high scoring matches this year, not by design really,' the former Norwich manager said, also talking to PA Sport, after seeing his team go four unbeaten. 'I think once we go 3-0 up, we're hoping to then go and try and make it an easier night for ourselves. But Brentford are a good side, they pose you a lot of questions and a lot of problems. The first goal's a worldie really for Sergi (Canos).'