Sky Bet Championship review: Brentford close top-two gap to one point with win over Preston
A review of Wednesday's action in the Sky Bet Championship, where Brentford moved to within a point of the top-two with victory over Preston.
Results
Brentford close gap to one point
Brentford moved to within a point of the automatic promotion places after a 1-0 win over Preston at Griffin Park.
Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the game after just four minutes and the Bees held on to maintain their flawless record since the resumption of the Sky Bet Championship in June.
The victory also equals a club record of eight successive league wins in the same season in what could be their penultimate match at Griffin Park, the club’s home since 1904.
After being played through by Emiliano Marcondes, Watkins took a touch before firing past goalkeeper Declan Rudd for his 25th goal of the season to move ahead of Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic in the Championship golden boot race.
Preston have endured different fortunes since the restart, having been sixth in February. They currently sit ninth, five points behind Cardiff who occupy the final play-off spot with two games left to play.
Blues leave it late
Lukas Jutkiewicz denied Charlton manager Lee Bowyer a winning return to St Andrew’s as Birmingham grabbed a late equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw.
Jutkiewicz’s leveller in the third minute of time added on denied relegation-threatened Charlton, who looked set to win courtesy of Macauley Bonne’s 58th-minute goal.
Bowyer remains the bookies’ favourite to become Blues’ next manager and he was four minutes of time added on from a winning first trip back to the club where he made 94 appearances from 2009-11 and won the League Cup in 2011.
Bonne’s 10th of the season ended the Addicks’ three-match losing run.
Blues have gone 12 games without a win but at least they avoided a fifth consecutive loss after the premature exit of head coach Pep Clotet a week ago.
They have taken just seven points out of the last 36 available.
But they only had themselves to blame after Scott Hogan missed a 34th-minute penalty and blazed over the rebound, while they wasted two early chances.
Forest strengthen play-off position
Sammy Ameobi netted twice to leave Nottingham Forest with one foot in the Sky Bet Championship play-offs and Swansea’s hopes looking rather slimmer following a 2-2 draw at the City Ground.
The Reds winger netted from the edge of the box in spectacular fashion in both halves, to cancel out a fine strike from Rhian Brewster and a controversial penalty by Andre Ayew.
It left Sabri Lamouchi’s side sitting in fifth place, five points clear of seventh-placed Millwall, with two games to play – while Steve Cooper’s Swans sit a point behind Millwall in eighth, with Welsh rivals Cardiff currently holding on to sixth position.
To add to Swansea’ woes they finished the game with 10 men following Kyle Naughton’s late red card.
Stoke boost survival hopes
Stoke inched towards Sky Bet Championship safety with a 1-1 draw at Ashton Gate that did little for Bristol City’s play-off prospects.
Danny Batth’s second-half header gave Stoke a share of the spoils their endeavour deserved after Filip Benkovic, another central defender showing the finishing instincts of a striker, had given the Robins the lead just before the break.
Victory would have almost secured Stoke’s Championship status and, though a draw leaves them with some work to do, manager Michael O’Neill will be confident they can finish the job now they are five points above the relegation zone.
Bristol City’s own ambitions look more precarious after Dean Holden failed to collect three points for the first time since succeeding Lee Johnson in a caretaker capacity earlier this month.
After wins over Hull and Middlesbrough, Bristol City had ignited their play-off chances but the Robins now trail sixth-placed Cardiff by five points with two games remaining.
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