Brentford kept hopes of a late dash for automatic promotion from the Championship alive with a narrow 1-0 victory over leaders West Brom on Friday night.
The Bees took the lead after an open start at Griffin Park when Ollie Watkins finished off a slick move with a close-range finish after Josh Dasilva’s pull-back. The goal moved him level with Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic at the top of the scoring charts.
Slaven Bilic breathed new life into his side after the break, with Kenneth Zohore striking a venomous effort off the crossbar, but their drought in front of goal continued as Matheus Pereira’s creativity bore no fruit.
The second victory in as many games moves Thomas Frank’s men above west London rivals Fulham into third, five points behind the Baggies and second-placed Leeds, who face the Cottagers live on Sky Sports Football on Saturday.
How Brentford kept the Baggies at bay
West Brom’s attack lacked panache when they got back underway with a drab stalemate in the Midlands derby with Birmingham last Saturday, so when the returning Grady Diangana nutmegged Henrik Dalsgaard and scooped a shot onto the roof of the net inside two minutes, it looked to be a sign of things to come.
Yet they struggled to settle into a rhythm in west London and soon found themselves behind. In-demand Said Benrahma rolled the ball into the path of Dasilva and his square ball wormed its way through a crowd to the outstretched leg of Watkins, and over the line.
Image: Brentford winger Bryan Mbeumo returned to action following a positive test for coronavirus earlier this month
A drinks break slowed Brentford’s increasing confidence, but the hosts were happy to soak up pressure and could even afford a slightly robust approach in nullifying the increasing threat of Pereira.
A double substitution at half-time, which saw Zohore and Filip Krovinovic enter the fray, made the visitors look a completely different side and the former almost restored parity when he was afforded the space to swivel and fire a thunderous shot off the crossbar.
The Bees managed to wrestle control back and with 17 minutes to play, left-back Rico Henry sprinted to the byline and managed to pick out Dasilva, but the former Arsenal midfielder failed to connect properly and watched on as his shot agonisingly trickled inches wide of the right-hand post.
What’s next?
Brentford travel to the Madejski Stadium to face Reading at 6pm on Tuesday June 30, while West Brom are in action the following night with a trip to Hillsborough to face Garry Monk’s Sheffield Wednesday.
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