BRENTFORD have been warned they face losing star striker Charlie MacDonald for nothing in the summer if they don’t open new contract talks soon.

The former Southend frontman, who top-scored for the Bees with 18 last season and jointly tops the charts with Myles Weston this term with five, is out of contract at the end of the season.

But the club, which recently awarded Marcus Bean a new two-year deal and have made an offer to Ryan Dickson, have not yet approached MacDonald about extending his stay.

And although he is desperate to stay at Griffin Park, the 28-year-old admits he will be forced to look elsewhere if nothing is forthcoming soon.

After bagging a brace of goals to help Brentford knock Gateshead out of the FA Cup on Tuesday night, MacDonald said: "I’m not sure what the situation is, really, but I’ve not been offered anything yet.

"I’ll be a free agent in the summer, and at the age of 28 I’m not getting any younger, so I want to get something sorted sooner rather than later.

"I’ll be keeping one eye on it, but in the meantime I’ve just got to make sure I keep on playing well and scoring."

MacDonald now has all the more reason to want job security - his partner was due to be induced to give birth to their third child yesterday.

He missed the original FA Cup tie at Gateshead two weeks ago as that was when the birth was due.

Mac said: "I won’t be missing any more games. She’s due to be induced Thursday (yesterday), and I’ll train in the morning, possibly on Friday too, and will definitely be available to play against Walsall on Saturday."