Brentford virtually safe, Luton Town as good as down after Bees' 5-1 hammering at The Kenny

From Alessandro Schiavone at Kenilworth Road

Luton Town 1-5 Brentford

Goals: Wissa, Wissa, Pinnock, Lewis-Potter, Schade (B), Berry (L)

Brentford edged closer to safety after wiping the floor with Luton Town in 5-1 demolition.

The win at Kenilworth Road has now impressively extended the Bees' unbeaten streak to five and their cushion on the third-from-bottom Hatters to 10 points. And that with only four games to go, meaning two points will do to mathematically ensure Premier League safety.

With Ivan Toney out injured and set to quit the Gtech Community Stadium in the summer, today's resounding win proves that there's life beyond their talisman for Brentford.

Impressively they looked like scoring each time they broke and Yoane Wissa netted a brace before half-time to put Thomas Frank's resurgent side in the driving seat.

In the second period Brentford went up a notch as Ethan Pinnock, Keane Lewis-Potter and Kevin Schade completed the rout.

Luke Berry gifted Championship-bound Town a consolation goal deep into stoppage-time.

After free hits against Tottenham, Arsenal and Tottenham in three or their last four, this was a must-win game for Rob Edwards' side.

The margins are small at the bottom and three points would have lifted Town above both Everton and Nottingham Forest ahead of their crunch relegation six-pointer tomorrow. Yet instead they now have to look over their shoulder with Burnley fancying their chances of a miraculous Premier League escape and hope there's no winner in tomorrow's game.

The goal festival started after 24 minutes, just shortly after Thomas Kaminski's superb reflex save had dented Lewis-Potters' hopes of a headed goal..

And Wissa, slipped through by Bryan Mbeumo,  put the visitors ahead when he arrowed his shot into the top corner from outside the box.

Tahith Chong then fluffed a gilt-edged opportunity to level the game when he sent a missile over from a promising position just before the half-hour mark.

Minutes later, Cameroon international Mbeumo's luck was out when his sumptuous first-time curler rattled the woodwork.

But Brentford still took a 2-0 lead into half-time thanks to red-hot Wissa, who pounced on a failed clearance by Reece Burke to extend the advantage with a scuffed strike to make it 10 goals for the campaign.

In the second period, Pinnock rose highest to meet a Sergio Reguillon's corner and plant home the third before Lewis-Potter nodded home Mbeumo's inviting delivery across goal.

Last but not least substitute Schade added his name to the scoresheet.

The visitors settled for five but it could easily have been more against a dysfunctional Town side as Kristoffer Ajer was denied by Kaminski's flying save.

In the grand scheme of things, the result never really looked in doubt as Town's subded defenders failed to turn up, playing like rabbits in the headlights and not defending like a unit at all.

If Brentford can already start planning their transfer business for the summer, Town may have to get used to the idea of a short-lived stint in the Premier League.

And today may go down as the day when it all imploded.

Line-ups

Luton 3-4-2-1

Kaminski, Burke, Mengi, Osho, Kaboré, Sambi Lokonga, Barkley, Doughty, Clark, Chong, Morris

Brentford 3-5-2

Flekken, Pinnock, Ajer, Collins, Lewis-Potter, Jensen, Janelt, Damsgaard, Reguilón, Mbeumo, Wissa