Newcastle United 3-1 Brentford

Dwight Gayle (left) has scored five goals in his past three games for Newcastle

Newcastle won their third successive Championship game as they cruised past Brentford at St James' Park.

Brentford's Scott Hogan headed over from close range, before Jonjo Shelvey crossed for Ciaran Clark to nod in the opening goal for the hosts.

Dwight Gayle's shot doubled the lead and he tapped in a second after the break from two yards out.

Hogan turned in after a corner to reduce the deficit, but Newcastle were rarely troubled in the later stages.

The result lifts Newcastle to second in the table, though the result took longer to secure than it ought to have, with Christian Atsu firing just off target and Ayoze Perez having a goal ruled out for offside in a dominant first-half showing.

Gayle's two goals lifted him above Hogan and Bristol City's Tammy Abraham as the Championship's top scorer on nine, following his move from Crystal Palace in a reported £10m deal in July.

Brentford fell to eighth in the table as they lost their fourth game in their past five league meetings with Newcastle.

The Bees face Derby on Tuesday, but will be without centre-half Harlee Dean for the trip to the iPro Stadium after he was shown his fourth yellow card in five games and his fifth of the season in total.

Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez:

"We did everything we wanted to do - we controlled the game and had good chances.

"I'm not watching the table because it's too soon. I said the other day I was convinced we could improve; I'm pleased but we can still improve.

"The team is doing a lot of good things and we have a striker who is confident in front of goal and scoring."

Brentford manager Dean Smith:

"With the quality that they have they don't really need a helping hand but unfortunately we gave them one with a two-goal lead.

"We're not renowned for that - defensively we're normally very good.

"We came here with a game plan but when you give away goals like that it goes out the window. There were good things as well - we competed well enough."

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Newcastle

• 26Darlow
• 8Anita
• 6LascellesSubstituted forHanleyat 60'minutes
• 2Clark
• 3Dummett
• 30AtsuBooked at 42minsSubstituted forYedlinat 72'minutes
• 12Shelvey
• 4ColbackBooked at 38mins
• 20GouffranBooked at 26minsSubstituted forLazaarat 84'minutes
• 17Pérez
• 9Gayle

Substitutes

• 5Hanley
• 7Lazaar
• 14Hayden
• 15Diamé
• 22Yedlin
• 28Sels
• 45Mitrovic

Brentford

• 1Bentley
• 2Colin
• 6DeanBooked at 24mins
• 14Egan
• 5BjellandSubstituted forBarbetat 75'minutes
• 8YennarisSubstituted forMcCormackat 78'minutes
• 15WoodsBooked at 73mins
• 20Clarke
• 4MacLeodSubstituted forKaikaiat 64'minutes
• 19SawyersBooked at 72mins
• 9Hogan

Substitutes

• 7Saunders
• 10McEachran
• 12McCormack
• 16Bonham
• 17Kerschbaumer
• 25Kaikai
• 29Barbet

Referee:

Simon Hooper

Attendance:

51,885

Match Stats

Home TeamNewcastleAway TeamBrentford

Possession

Home52%

Away48%

Shots

Home15

Away7

Shots on Target

Home6

Away2

Corners

Home5

Away5

Fouls

Home6

Away11

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Newcastle United 3, Brentford 1.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+6'

Second Half ends, Newcastle United 3, Brentford 1.

Posted at 90'+6'

Grant Hanley (Newcastle United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 90'+6'

Foul by Scott Hogan (Brentford).

Posted at 90'+5'

Attempt missed. Ryan Woods (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Sullay Kaikai.

Posted at 90'+4'

Attempt missed. Ayoze Pérez (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Dwight Gayle.

Posted at 90'+3'

Attempt missed. Ayoze Pérez (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the right side of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Jonjo Shelvey following a set piece situation.

Posted at 90'+2'

Ayoze Pérez (Newcastle United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 90'+2'

Foul by Romaine Sawyers (Brentford).

Posted at 90'

Corner, Newcastle United. Conceded by Maxime Colin.

Posted at 90'

Attempt blocked. Achraf Lazaar (Newcastle United) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Jonjo Shelvey.

Posted at 89'

Foul by Dwight Gayle (Newcastle United).

Posted at 89'

John Egan (Brentford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 88'

Attempt missed. Ryan Woods (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Romaine Sawyers.

Substitution

Posted at 84'

Substitution, Newcastle United. Achraf Lazaar replaces Yoan Gouffran.

Posted at 83'

Attempt saved. Dwight Gayle (Newcastle United) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Yoan Gouffran.

Substitution

Posted at 78'

Substitution, Brentford. Alan McCormack replaces Nico Yennaris.

Posted at 78'

Yoan Gouffran (Newcastle United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 78'

Foul by Josh Clarke (Brentford).

Substitution

Posted at 75'

Substitution, Brentford. Yoann Barbet replaces Andreas Bjelland.

Posted at 74'

Attempt missed. Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle United) right footed shot from outside the box is too high from a direct free kick.

Booking

Posted at 73'

Ryan Woods (Brentford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 73'

Ayoze Pérez (Newcastle United) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 73'

Foul by Ryan Woods (Brentford).

Substitution

Posted at 72'

Substitution, Newcastle United. DeAndre Yedlin replaces Christian Atsu.

Booking

Posted at 72'

Romaine Sawyers (Brentford) is shown the yellow card.

Posted at 67'

Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Ciaran Clark.

Posted at 66'

Attempt saved. Ayoze Pérez (Newcastle United) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Christian Atsu.

Substitution

Posted at 64'

Substitution, Brentford. Sullay Kaikai replaces Lewis MacLeod.

Posted at 64'

Offside, Newcastle United. Ayoze Pérez tries a through ball, but Christian Atsu is caught offside.

Posted at 63'

Corner, Newcastle United. Conceded by Andreas Bjelland.

Substitution

Posted at 60'

Substitution, Newcastle United. Grant Hanley replaces Jamaal Lascelles because of an injury.

Posted at 59'

Attempt blocked. Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Christian Atsu.

Posted at 59'

Corner, Newcastle United. Conceded by Harlee Dean.

Posted at 59'

Attempt blocked. Yoan Gouffran (Newcastle United) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jack Colback.

Posted at 55'

Attempt missed. Nico Yennaris (Brentford) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Ryan Woods following a corner.

Posted at 55'

Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Ciaran Clark.

Goal!

Posted at 52'

Goal! Newcastle United 3, Brentford 1. Scott Hogan (Brentford) header from very close range to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Romaine Sawyers with a headed pass following a corner.

Posted at 51'

Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Yoan Gouffran.

Posted at 51'

Corner, Brentford. Conceded by Vurnon Anita.

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