Championship play-offs: Boro brilliant value to beat Brentford again

Coral have thrown punters a tasty bone by lengthening Middlesbrough’s odds of gaining Premier League promotion via the Championship play-offs from 2/1 to 12/5.

Aitor Karanka’s Teesside team battle Brentford in their semi-final, and did a regular season double over the Bees, winning both to nil. This is why Boro are 19/10 for victory at Griffin Park, and odds-on at 4/6 to reach the Wembley final.

In spite of the uncertainty surrounding the succession to departing coach Mark Warburton (pictured below), which punters may see as to Middlesbrough’s advantage, Brentford sneaked into the top six, essentially at Derby County’s expense, with just one loss in nine.

The Bees are not fancied to go up at 7/2, though have inquired if the Premier League would allow them to play at their home ground, complete with a pub on every corner, should they reach the top-flight. Chief executive Mark Devlin is covering every eventuality, though.

“I’m still convinced we can convince the Premier League,” he told local radio. “We have got an agreement in principle with another club if we need to groundshare, [but] we are focused on bringing Griffin Park up to scratch.”

Before that because an issue, Brentford must find a way to get past the best Championship defence in this semi, so that explains why they are no shorter than 7/5 favourites to win the first leg, and conversely 6/5 outsiders to qualify from the tie.

Punters who fancy the Bees to belie Boro’s belligerent back four should note three 2-2 draws in five in west London, and take a punt on this again as a 16/1 shot. Odds for a draw, regardless of the precise result at Brentford, are 23/10.