Carabao Cup: Brentford 1-1 Gillingham (5-6 on penalties) – Bees stunned by League Two Gills

Brentford suffered a shock Carabao Cup exit as League Two Gillingham edged a penalty shootout to succeed in the fourth spherical for the primary time in 26 years.

But the Gills scored with their first try of the match after 75 minutes as substitute Mikael Mandron headed in.

That allowed them to report a shocking upset as Mikkel Damsgaard was the primary to overlook in a excessive-high quality shootout.

Thomas Frank stated his facet – quarter-finalists final 12 months after reaching the final 4 in 2020-21 – have been within the competitors to win it and he arrange his crew accordingly, welcoming striker Toney again from suspension in a robust line-up in West London.

Brentford, 78 locations above the Gills within the soccer league, swiftly asserted themselves after kick-off had been pushed again by 20 minutes as a consequence of Gillingham’s late arrival on the stadium.

An extended ball from goalkeeper David Raya freed Damsgaard to tee up Toney for a easy faucet-in with the sport’s first probability, two days earlier than England’s World Cup squad announcement.

Saman Ghoddos hit the put up with a header after Toney had one other effort saved as Brentford went near a second however, regardless of their dominance, the Bees have been unable to place the sport past Neil Harris’ guests, who sit twentieth within the fourth tier.

They have been punished when Alex MacDonald discovered fellow substitute Mandron with a cross with quarter-hour remaining, with that single probability in open play proving sufficient to power penalties when Brentford’s Ethan Pinnock was denied within the closing phases.

MacDonald held his nerve with the primary sudden-demise penalty following a collection of effectively-taken spot-kicks, earlier than Damsgaard struck the crossbar to ship Gillingham into Thursday’s fourth-spherical draw.

Gillingham take their probability to say upset

Gillingham have struggled on their return to the fourth tier following relegation from League One final season.

Harris’ facet have managed two wins from 16 matches up to now this time period, scoring simply six objectives, and so they slipped to twenty second following Tuesday’s league fixtures.

They had simply 19% possession on the Gtech Community Stadium, registering one shot in comparison with 16 for Brentford – seven of which have been on goal.

But they efficiently prevented their prime-flight opposition from placing the sport out of attain to arrange their shootout triumph, which despatched them into the final 16 for simply the second time within the membership’s historical past – and first time since 1996.

Despite fielding a robust beginning line-up it’s now one win in 9 matches for Brentford, who face a visit to reigning champions Manchester City on Saturday of their ultimate recreation earlier than Premier League soccer pauses for the World Cup.

Toney scores in ultimate World Cup audition

In his final alternative to impress England supervisor Gareth Southgate earlier than he names his ultimate 26-man World Cup squad on Thursday, Toney was capable of make the scoresheet and supplied a reminder of his spot-kick prowess as he made a ultimate bid for inclusion.

Brentford boss Frank claimed Toney had already performed sufficient to be chosen for his first World Cup after the striker scored twice in a 2-0 Premier League win over Brighton in mid-October.

But that is still an out-of-kind Brentford’s solely win in two months – and Toney has not scored in 270 minutes of Premier League soccer since that double took his tally to eight objectives in 10 video games.

Unused by Southgate regardless of being referred to as as much as the England squad for the primary time for September’s Nations League fixtures, Toney missed one other beneficial probability to shine on Saturday as he sat out the draw with Nottingham Forest as a consequence of suspension.

Currently assisting the Football Association’s enquiries into allegations of historic match betting, he was capable of refocus on Tuesday as he seeks to realize his “childhood dream” of representing England on soccer’s greatest stage.

While his early contribution was not sufficient to see Brentford progress, he’ll hope he has performed sufficient over the previous months to persuade Southgate.