Brentford 0-1 Middlesbrough

Daniel Ayala was claiming the goal that maintained Boro's unbeaten league record against Brentford

Middlesbrough extended their lead at the top of the Championship with victory following an error from Brentford goalkeeper David Button.

The winner came when his punch looped up and towards the line, although it looked like Boro defender Daniel Ayala might have got the final touch.

It was harsh on Brentford, who saw Alan Judge and Maxime Colin denied by fine Dimi Konstantopoulos goalkeeping.

Button made some fine saves of his own but his error proved costly.

Boro climb six points clear of second-placed Derby with a game in hand.

The Teessiders began the night four points clear of the Rams and arrived in west London with an unbeaten league record against their opponents stretching back to 1938.

However their position was no concern to the home side who attacked Boro with vigour and caused problems through top scorer Judge's creativity throughout.

Konstantopoulos foiled Lasse Vibe when he capitalised on an Ayala error, and Button was smart to stop David Nugent from a similar position before the break.

Brentford looked to be in the ascendancy after half-time, with Boro again indebted to Konstantopoulos' efforts, but a dangerous corner in a swirling wind proved their undoing as Button's attempted clearance sailed up and towards the goal, and Ayala wheeled away in celebration having claimed to poke in the crucial goal.

Bees boss Dean Smith made all his changes in a bid to overturn the deficit but Boro stood firm to pick up the points and edge further clear of their promotion rivals.

Brentford head coach Dean Smith:

"I'm disappointed with the result but as I've said before we can only control performances and the performance was very good.

"If we continue to look after our performances the results will follow. The performance tonight would have been enough to beat many sides in this division.

"Boro are a good team with good players and we more than matched and at times looked marginally better than them."

Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka:

"We have been really lucky because to be fair in the first half Brentford had three chances and we have made two or three mistakes.

"Sometimes you pay for those mistakes, but when you are top of table the luck can stay with you.

"They are confident on the pitch and that confidence means you can make mistakes, but there are another 10 players who know you and are always there just in case."