Match ends, Brentford 1, Crawley Town 0.
BrentfordBrentford1CrawleyCrawley Town0
Brentford edged closer to promotion from League One after Jonathan Douglas' goal sealed victory over Crawley.
Clayton Donaldson had two early chances for the Bees but missed the target twice, while Alan Judge's header was saved by Crawley keeper Paul Jones.
Jones was at fault for the goal though, spilling Douglas' header into the net.
Stuart Dallas twice went close to making it 2-0 as Brentford saw out victory to open up a nine-point advantage over Rotherham in third.
And with five games left to play, Brentford know two wins and a draw will seal promotion to the Championship, with the Bees also three points behind leaders Wolves.
The west London side's tally of 87 points is the highest recorded in their 125-year history.
Brentford manager Mark Warburton told BBC London 94.9:
"These are the hard games and we knew they were going to be a tough opponent. They slowed the game down and we had to respond to it and not get impatient.
"There was good fortune and we had to fight for it.
"From our point of view it is one game at a time.
"Our long-term target is to fill our new stadium. To do that we need to set new records and it is another step forward towards our goal."
Crawley Town boss John Gregory told BBC Surrey:
"We came here with a plan and it had 0-0 written all over it in my view, which would have been a good result for us.
"They are a hard team to play against and they are almost certainly going to be automatically promoted. We made a monumental error which has cost us.
"Obviously the mistake by Jonesy (Paul Jones) has cost us from a fairly easy header and it was game over.
"It was a very disappointing way to lose a match."
Line-ups
Brentford
Formation 4-3-3
- 27Button
- 12McCormack
- 24Bidwell
- 8Douglas
- 5Craig
- 26Tarkowski
- 4ForshawSubstituted forDiagouragaat 89'minutes
- 17SavilleSubstituted forReevesat 68'minutes
- 9Donaldson
- 15Dallas
- 18JudgeSubstituted forTrottaat 73'minutes
Substitutes
- 2O'Connor
- 6Dean
- 11Grigg
- 16Bonham
- 20Diagouraga
- 22Reeves
- 29Trotta
Crawley
Formation 4-4-2
- 1Jones
- 29Connolly
- 3Sadler
- 15BulmanSubstituted forTorresat 69'minutes
- 12Walsh
- 5McFadzean
- 11Simpson
- 28Dicker
- 18Tubbs
- 7ClarkeSubstituted forProctorat 59'minutes
- 21Jones
Substitutes
- 4Connolly
- 8Torres
- 9Fallon
- 14Proctor
- 19Monakana
- 25Maddison
- 26Edwards
- Referee:
- Steve Martin
- Attendance:
- 7,718
Match Stats
Home TeamBrentfordAway TeamCrawley
- Possession
- Home59%
- Away41%
- Shots
- Home19
- Away3
- Shots on Target
- Home6
- Away2
- Corners
- Home6
- Away2
- Fouls
- Home6
- Away10
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Brentford 1, Crawley Town 0.
Post update
Hand ball by Matt Tubbs (Crawley Town).
Post update
Foul by Jake Bidwell (Brentford).
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Josh Simpson (Crawley Town) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Post update
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Paul Connolly.
Substitution
Substitution, Brentford. Toumani Diagouraga replaces Adam Forshaw.
Post update
Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Sergio Torres.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Jake Reeves (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Stuart Dallas (Brentford) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Post update
Corner, Crawley Town. Conceded by Tony Craig.
Post update
Jonathan Douglas (Brentford) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Post update
Foul by Jamie Proctor (Crawley Town).
Post update
Attempt blocked. Jake Reeves (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Post update
Clayton Donaldson (Brentford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Gary Dicker (Crawley Town).
Post update
Foul by Alan McCormack (Brentford).
Post update
Michael Jones (Crawley Town) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Post update
Attempt missed. Stuart Dallas (Brentford) left footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left.
Substitution
Substitution, Brentford. Marcello Trotta replaces Alan Judge.
