LAST UPDATE | 7 Jul 2020
BRENTFORD NEEDED LATE goals from Said Benrahma and Ethan Pinnock to beat Charlton 2-1 and crank up the pressure on West Brom in the race for automatic promotion.
Lowly Charlton led through an early goal from Macauley Bonne, but Benrahma levelled from the penalty spot before Pinnock headed the winner five minutes from time.
It was by no means a vintage display but nonetheless Brentford have once again cut the gap to the second-placed Baggies, who play Derby on Wednesday evening, to just two points.
Brentford had not conceded a goal in their previous five matches but it took Charlton just seven minutes to break the deadlock after Jonny Williams broke down the left and fed Alfie Doughty.
The Bees had a double let-off after Charlton, who still need a few more points to guarantee their survival, rattled the woodwork twice from a corner.
Raya pushed Josh Cullen’s cross onto his own crossbar and from the rebound Jason Pearce’s volley clipped the bar.
Brentford got back on level terms in the 74th minute when Benrahma latched onto a Dasilva cut-back in the area and tripped over the outstretched leg of Cullen.
Benrahma confidently dispatched the spot-kick beyond the dive of Phillips for his fourth goal in four days.
But when Dasilva looped another cross into the box, Pinnock got his head to it to steer home the ball and keep West Brom on their toes for a little longer yet.
Fulham also kept their automatic promotion hopes alive with a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, with Irish midfielder Harry Arter scoring the decisive goal.
In the late game, Cardiff City missed a chance to consolidate their place in the play-offs by slipping to a 3-2 defeat at home to Blackburn Rovers, with Adam Armstrong scoring an audacious winner eerily similar to Che Adams’ goal for Southampton against Man City last Sunday.
Cardiff remain sixth, three points clear of Derby County having played a game more.
Elsewhere this evening, Huddersfield gained what could prove a vital point in their battle against Championship relegation with a 0-0 draw at Reading.
The result lifts the Terriers three points clear of the drop, in a relegation fight complicated by the threat of a 12-point deduction to Wigan, who have appealed against the EFL ruling, for going into administration.
That deduction has yet to be applied as the Latics’ appeal is pending, so today’s meeting of Luton Town and Barnsley remained a clash of the bottom two. The game finished 1-1, with Aapo Halme’s 84th-minute equaliser earning Barnsley a point.
Luton remain bottom with 41 points, with Barnsley a place and a point better off, three points from safety.
Updated with details of Cardiff v Blackburn Rovers at 22.12
