A deflected Rajiv van La Parra first-half strike was enough for Huddersfield Town to seal victory over Brentford and pile on the pressure at the top of the SkyBet Championship.
The 1-0 win at Griffin Park was a sixth away victory for David Wagner’s side in the last nine away encounters as well as a second successive clean sheet.
The margins of error may have been fortuitous – Brentford's Lasse Vibe culpable of wastefulness in front of goal with two gilt edged chances but it's a combination of hard-work and endeavour mixed with a bit of luck which will may leave fans to feel their side may be destined for promotion.
David Wagner once again shuffled his pack for the trip to the Capital, making four changes to the starting line-up which beat Aston Villa on Tuesday evening – keeper Danny Ward returning in goal after injury; Aaron Mooy rested for in-form Philip Billing; Jack Payne replacing Izzy Brown and Nahki Wells coming in for Collin Quaner.
With Brighton & Hove Albion beating Derby County so comprehensively last night to extend their stranglehold on second-place to nine points from Town, this West London encounter really did have the impression of a 'must-win' if Wagner’s men were to hold any aspirations of gaining promotion from the Championship automatically.
With encounters between the sides usually averaging five goals per game, the hosts started the brightest with their own brand of high intensity pressing forcing an early mistake from Billing - his stray pass finding Brentford's Jota who forced a good save from Danny Ward from 20 yards out.
Town started to get in a rhythm though, with Jack Payne having the first shot for the side in the 11th minute, forcing Bees keeper Daniel Bentley into a fingertip save after a low Tommy Smith cross.
As both sides appeared to cancel each other out with a similar 4-2-3-1 formation and gameplan, it took a fortuitous 28th minute goal to open the scoring.
Rajiv van La Parra, much derided for too often lacking an end-product, cut in from the left with his curling shot palmed away by Bentley but ricocheting off a defender into the net.
As Brentford tried to rally, Huddersfield Town twice nearly doubled their lead on the break within the space of a few minutes – Nahki Wells hitting the post from five yards out before the Bermudian's effort curled over the bar after great work from Elias Kachunga.
With Jack Payne constantly bullied off the ball by Bees midfielder Ryan Woods, the 22-year-old made way for Izzy Brown as the second 45 minutes got off to a frenetic start.
Within minutes of kick-off, superb skill from Kachunga allowed the forward to roll the ball across the box looking for Wells but he was unable to connect due to the attention of Harlee Dean.
At the other end, Lasse Vibe had a glorious chance to equalise, blazing over the bar from seven yards with the goal at his mercy after good work from Florian Jozefzoon.
Yet before Town could breathe a sigh of relief at such a spectacular let-off, Jonathan Hogg was caught in possession with Vibe's deflected shot from 18 yards out hitting the bar.
As the game flowed from one end to the other, Town could have extended their advantage as Wells drilled a low cross into the box which deflected off Dean and onto the post.
The final 10 minutes was a nervy affair with Brentford on the front foot but Town's defence, one of many fundamental factors for this season's success, stood up well to the challenge.
There wasn't to be a late sting in the tail from the Bees though, leaving Huddersfield Town fans to be heard singing about Premier League promotion as news filtered through a number of the sides around them had fluffed their lines.
