Brentford have crashed out of the Carabao Cup after dropping 6-5 on penalties to League Two Gillingham.
The Bees had been main the fourth-tier strugglers by way of England hopeful Ivan Toney’s early aim, however then sat again and allowed their opponents to come back at them within the second half.
The Gills duly hauled themselves again into the match when Mikael Mandron’s late header secured a 1-1 draw.
Toney did no less than have the possibility to showcase his nerveless penalty approach within the shoot-out one final time earlier than Gareth Southgate names his squad by tucking in his facet’s first.
However after 11 profitable spot-kicks Mikkel Damsgaard crashed his towards the crossbar to present Gillingham an unlikely win and a spot in spherical 4.
Toney’s aim got here after solely three minutes and was most likely the best of his 9 to this point this season.
The 26-year-old had endured a tricky few days, having been suspended at Nottingham Forest on Saturday earlier than it emerged that he’s the topic of a Soccer Affiliation probe into an alleged historic breach of betting guidelines.
Such is his desperation to be on the World Cup, having been in Southgate’s final squad with out getting on the pitch, that Bees boss Thomas Frank picked him to face Gillingham to assist him “struggle for his place”.
In actual fact Frank named a surprisingly sturdy facet, making six adjustments with two of them being Toney and Denmark midfielder Christian Norgaard, again after 10 weeks out injured.
Kick-off had been delayed by 20 minutes because of Gillingham falling foul of the west London site visitors, however Toney didn’t waste any time to find the online.
The defences in Qatar usually are not more likely to be as accommodating as Gillingham’s, who let Damsgaard deliver down David Raya’s clearance, wander by way of the centre and tee up Toney, who completed into an empty internet.
Then as half-time approached Saman Ghoddos planted a looping header towards the woodwork.
Toney ought to have doubled the lead when he was discovered within the space by Josh Dasilva however he lashed his shot throughout aim and narrowly large.
Then, within the 73rd minute, Gillingham equalised from out of nowhere with their solely effort on the right track.
Alex MacDonald had an on the spot affect off the bench with the inviting cross which was headed in by fellow substitute Mandron.
Goalkeeper Jake Turner stored Gillingham on track for a shoot-out with a shocking save to maintain out Ethan Pinnock’s 89th-minute header, and when Damsgaard’s spot-kick got here again off the crossbar they celebrated a well-known win.
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