Brentford 1-0 Crawley Town
Brentford moved nine points clear of third-placed Rotherham with a slender victory over Crawley at Griffin Park.
Jonathan Douglas's second-half header proved the difference to boost their automatic promotion hopes, while rivals Rotherham were beaten at Sheffield United.
Mark Warburton made one change from the side that beat Notts County on Saturday, with George Saville replacing Toumani Diagouraga in midfield.
The hosts started on the front foot and almost took the lead inside five minutes, but Clayton Donaldson's effort flashed just wide.
Donaldson continue to threaten and should've given Brentford the advantage after 20 minutes. Joe Walsh failed to deal with a long punt upfield, only for the Bees striker to shoot tamely at Paul Jones.
The Crawley keeper did well to hold Alan Judge's header from a Stuart Dallas cross, while Judge fired a trademark long-ranger just wide.
It was all one-way traffic, with McCormack testing Jones from distance, but the hosts failed to find a breakthrough as the sides went in level at half-time.
However, their pressure finally paid off just before the hour mark.
Dallas played in Judge down the left, and his pinpoint cross was met by Douglas, whose header squirmed past Jones into the corner.
Dallas almost doubled Brentford's lead 20 minutes from time, but Jones did well to beat away his drive, while the Northern Irishman also curled an effort over.
He had another chance to wrap up victory late on, only for Matt Sadler to block his goalbound shot.
However, the hosts held on to put them firmly in the driving seat in the automatic promotion race.
Bees: Button, McCormack, Tarkowski, Craig, Bidwell, Douglas, Saville (Reeves 68), Forshaw (Diagouraga 89), Judge (Trotta 73), Dallas, Donaldson.
Subs (not used): Bonham, O'Connor, Dean, Grigg.
