Football – England – Championship Play-Off Semi-Final 1st Leg
Friday 8th May 2015 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
The fourth and fifth placed teams at the end of the regular Championship season face off in tonight’s Championship play-offs opener with hosts Brentford taking on Middlesbrough at Griffin Park.
Brentford rounded off their successful season in their return to the Championship by posting back-to-back wins over Reading and Wigan Athletic in 2-0 and 3-0 wins respectively, and they are now just 270 minutes away from claiming a Premier League place!
However, manager Mark Warburton will be keen to keep his players grounded as they face a difficult Middlesbrough challenge over two legs starting tonight. The Bees have shown throughout their campaign though that they’re no pushovers and this is evident in recent weeks as they’ve suffered just one defeat from their last nine league matches.
Brentford’s overall home record finished up at 12-6-5 46/28 and they posted a similar return of results at Griffin Park as they lost just once in their last eight (a slightly surprising 2-1 loss to Cardiff City), but they also registered a 3-1 win over Championship champions Bournemouth back in February.
Visitors Middlesbrough were less consistent in the final weeks of the season as they suffered defeats to Bournemouth, Watford and Fulham (all away from home), but they did manage a narrow win at Carrow Road over Norwich City.
But most of Middlesbrough’s recent successes have been registered at their Riverside Stadium, while on their travels they’ve lost five of their last seven with defeats inflicted upon them by Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, as well as the aforementioned Bournemouth, Watford and Fulham.
Boro’s away record ended up on 10-5-8 26/25 with only Ipswich Town and Brentford losing more away matches than them out of the teams that finished in the top six.
Current form would suggest a slight lean towards the hosts Brentford here, but the first legs of the play-off matches are usually tight, cagey affairs. With this in mind, I’ll back The Bees with the attractively priced round ball as they could sneak a 1-0 win here perhaps.
Pick: Brentford AH0 @ 1.90 Bet Victor
