Goals from Ezri Konsa, Neal Maupay and Marcus Forss gave Brentford the points on the final day of the season at Griffin Park.
It was an odd first half that lasted more than 58 minutes, with an 11-minute delay for an injury to Bees defender Julian Jeanvier after a clash of heads with Jayden Stockley in the very first minute of the game and then a later stoppage for a member of the home crowd who needed treatment right next to the dugouts.
All this meant that there was very little flow to the match in the opening period, but there were still moments for both sides.
Brentford were perhaps lucky not to have found themselves down to ten men mid-way through the normal time, when top scorer Maupay could have been red carded for a very poor foul on Joe Rafferty. He charged at the right back and headed the back of the PNE No.15 and somehow got away without even a caution for what was in fact a dangerous challenge.
The first real chance of the game came on 26 minutes as Callum Robinson was fed through by an Alan Browne flick on and he got space in the left-hand side of the penalty area to get off a left-footed effort, which Luke Daniels in the home goal turned behind for the game’s first corner.
Just before the half hour mark, some brilliant defending from Browne kept out a shot from Luka Racic after Brentford’s first corner.
There were 13 minutes of stoppage time added in five minutes into it the home side went ahead. Firstly, Connor Ripley – who retained his place in goal – tiped over from Ollie Watkins, cutting in from the left after Rico Henry’s pass.
But from the resulting corner, Thomas Frank’s side recycled the ball on the left and the ball back in caused a scramble, it eventually falling to centre half Konsa to fire home from six yards out.
At the interval a change saw Lukas Nmecha brought on for Jayden Stockley, with the on loan Manchester City man going out onto the right and Sean Maguire moving into the No.9 role.
A second goal came nine minutes into the second half as Canos found space on the right-hand side of the box, got to the byline and then pulled the ball back to Maupay on the edge of the six-yard box to fire home.
On the hour mark, a second attacking change for the Lilywhites saw Louis Moult replace Robinson, with a switch to what looked like a 4-4-2 formation for the side in green as well.
The third came from substitute Forss, who fired into the bottom left hand corner from 22 yards, after breaking from the midfield, with six minutes left.
Josh Ginnelly, also on as a substitue, almost grabbed an injury-time consolation, but Konsa blocked his effort and the corner was headed behind as the whistle went to end the season.
Brentford line-up: Daniels, Henry, Canos (Forss, 79), Maupay, Watkins (Oksanen, 79), Dasilva, Emiliano, Dalsgaard, Jeanvier, Konsa, Racic. Subs not used: Gunnarson, Ogbene, Zamburek, Archibald.
PNE line-up: Ripley, Rafferty, Fisher, Johnson, Storey, Davies, Maguire (Ginnelly, 75), Gallagher, Stockley (Nmecha, 46), Browne, Robinson (Moult, 61). Subs not used: Rudd, Earl, Huntington, O’Reilly.
Attendance: 11,289 (812 PNE fans)
Referee: Mr J Linington