Brentford 1-3 Cardiff City

Cardiff City completed the double over Brentford having beaten the Bees 2-0 earlier in the season

Cardiff City extended their lead over third-place Aston Villa as they came from behind to win at Brentford.

The Bees started the brightest and took a deserved lead through Neal Maupay before Neil Etheridge made two crucial saves for the visitors.

Sol Bamba and Callum Paterson gave Cardiff a half-time lead before Kenneth Zohore made it 3-1 on the hour.

Second-placed Cardiff are now seven points clear of Villa, who lost to QPR on Tuesday, with nine games remaining.

Brentford, in 11th, find themselves eight points off a play-off place as Dean Smith's side looked destined for another season in the Championship.

Cardiff on the other hand have opened up the largest margin over third-place as they have had all season and with seven wins in a row, Neil Warnock's side have thrown down the challenge to rivals Aston Villa and Fulham.

Game almost over before it had started

Neal Maupay's goal after five minutes was his first since scoring against Birmingham in February

Brentford could have been ahead after less than 20 seconds - Sergi Canos found Maupay, keen to make amends for his open-goal miss against Cardiff earlier in the season, but the Frenchman could not find a way past Etheridge.

The Bluebirds failed to find any foothold in the game for the first 20 minutes as they regularly lost the ball in and around their own 18-yard box.

Liverpool-loanee Marko Grujic lost the ball on the halfway line with just five minutes played and Maupay was on hand beat the offside trap before coolly slotting to ball home to give Brentford a deserved lead.

Maupay, Ollie Watkins, Canos and Yoann Barbet all had chances saved or blocked as Brentford's onslaught continued but they failed to take their chances and Cardiff made them pay.

Sol Bamba joined Cardiff last season on a free transfer after being released from Leeds United

Brentford goalkeeper Daniel Bentley expertly denied Junior Hoilett from close range but from the resulting corner he could not keep out Bamba's turn and half-volley.

The Ivorian's fourth goal of the season, and definitely his best, jump-started the Bluebirds as the visitors rallied.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was denied by Bentley when through on goal but it was Paterson who, on the stroke of half-time, scored his third goal in as many games to spark wild celebrations amongst the Cardiff fans.

Brentford thought they had a penalty after a long free-kick appeared to strike to arm of Grujic in the area, but referee James Linington waved away protests.

The Bluebirds picked up where they left off after the restart and Zohore's poacher's finish with just under an hour played look to have put the game to bed.

Kenneth Zohore's goal was his third goal in five games, just one less than he managed the entire season up to that point

The Danish striker almost had his second and Cardiff's fourth minutes later but his downward header was blocked on the line.

Warnock's side had a penalty shout of their own in the second half as an attempted clearance from the Brentford defence looked to have been blocked by Josh Clarke's arm.

The home side rang the changes with 20 minutes to go as they pressed for a way back into the game but despite having the lion's share of possession they couldn't muster too many clear sights on goal.

John Egan had the best chance to half the deficit but his injury-time effort went high and wide of Etheridge's goal.

Cardiff City boss Neil Warnock said: "To win seven on the trot is a great feeling.

"In December I thought we'd never win another game because we lost four on the trot, but this is amazing.

"We showed great character after going one down but that's what they are like... they are all together with great spirit, and long may it continue."