Football: Soccer-Brentford thump Luton 5-1 to move 10 points clear of drop zone

LUTON, England (Reuters) – Brentford took a giant step towards guaranteeing Premier League football next season with a 5-1 thumping of relegation-threatened Luton Town at Kenilworth Road on Saturday, with Yoane Wissa scoring his first top-flight double for the Bees.

Ethan Pinnock, Keane Lewis-Potter and Kevin Schade also scored for the visitors, who were full value for the win as Luton showed little fight and quality until a late Luke Berry consolation in a display that will worry manager Rob Edwards.

Brentford move up to 14th with 35 points from 34 games and, while not mathematically safe, will feel it is almost job done. They are 10 points clear of third-bottom Luton, who have 25.

The visitors might have won by a greater margin but home goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski made several superb saves and the excellent Bryan Mbeumo struck the post as he ran the show for Brentford, who were without injured England forward Ivan Toney.

“We controlled the game from the first minute to the end. We had to win. We know how tight it is to stay in the Premier League,” Wissa said.

“I wanted to score a hat-trick, it was the first time I’ve had a chance to score one. It’s unlucky for me. I think Brentford are back, even if it is late (in the season).”

Luton have now conceded 10 goals in their last two games and a once promising fight against the drop is starting to flounder.

Brentford were superb, but the home side lacked anything like their usual intensity in a flat showing that will require plenty of soul-searching.

Kaminski produced a superb save to keep out Lewis-Potter’s header from close range but Brentford got the opening goal their early pressure deserved and it was a superb finish from Wissa.

He latched onto a perfectly-weighted through ball from Mbeumo and thundered a shot from 25 metres beyond a diving Kaminski.

Mbeumo’s curling shot from 20 metres thundered against the bar but Brentford did get a second with another flowing move.

Mbeumo’s low cross was not cleared by Luton and Wissa bundled the ball in from close range.

The third goal arrived just past the hour and it was all too easy as Sergio Reguilon’s corner was headed home by Pinnock.

Luton switched off for Brentford’s fourth. Mbeumo was played into acres of space in the box and his cross to the far post was headed in by Lewis-Potter before Schade swept home the fifth.

The hosts did get a late goal when Berry profited from a poor pass but it was far too little, too late.

(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Ken Ferris)