Brentford 1 Gillingham 1 (5-6 Pens): Ivan Toney scores early for Premier League hosts in Carabao Cup third round tie but Mikael Mandron levels and Gills win on penalties

Gillingham took Premier League Brentford to a penalty shootout in the Carabao Cup and won.

Ivan Toney put Brentford a goal up after just three minutes and Saman Ghoddos hit the woodwork for the hosts but Mika Mandron levelled it up with 15 minutes left. Gills hung on for a 1-1 draw and the match went to penalties. All six of their penalties were converted to claim a 6-5 shootout win, Mikkel Damsgaard hitting the bar to lose it for the hosts.

The third round fixture at the modest but impressive Gtech Stadium was a sell-out and home head coach Thomas Frank has declared pre-match he’d be naming a strong team, one that included England World Cup hopeful Ivan Toney. Frank did as he said he would, throwing the Gills a Premier League line-up to tackle.

With Gareth Southgate’s squad for Qatar to be named days after the third round match, Toney was hoping to make some headlines against a Gills defence that were unable to keep it tight against National League North AFC Fylde in the FA Cup on the Saturday.

Gillingham’s own big striker Mika Mandron dropped to the bench as boss Neil Harris returned experienced midfielder Shaun Williams to the squad following injury, lining up alongside captain Stuart O’Keefe, who had shrugged off a weekend injury. Defender Max Ehmer was suspended.

Traffic congestion around the stadium led to a 20 minute delay to the match. The Gills team was among those stuck, leading to a kick off at the later time of 8.05pm.

The last time the sides met was in 2014, in League 1, but the gap between the clubs is now huge. Brentford started the night 11th in the Premier League while the Gills have gone backwards, sitting 20th in League 2. Harris’ men were 20-1 outsiders to pull off a shock in West London.

It took