Winning farewell to Griffin Park is just the job for Frank
THOMAS Frank vowed to celebrate Brentford reaching the Championship play-off final, but insisted the job is not done yet.
The Bees beat Swansea 3-1 in the final game at Griffin Park to move a step closer to the Premier League, 3-2 on aggregate.
Brentford overturned Swansea’s one-goal lead from the first leg within the first 15 minutes through goals from Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Marcondes.
Bryan Mbeumo added the third just after half-time and although Pontus Jansson’s mistake allowed Rhian Brewster to make it a nervous last 15 minutes the hosts, who last week blew their chance of going up automatically, took a big step towards redemption.
Frank said: “We were very irritated after the game over there. My adrenaline never stopped until today after this game.
“We talked about not coming off the pitch without reaching the final. The message was we needed to start faster than we ever had before and we did that.
“It was nervy. At 3-0 we should just ease through, or potentially score the fourth goal. We made a mistake we shouldn’t make.
“Of course I’m extremely pleased and happy.
“It’s a very nice moment. I will celebrate tonight with a glass of red because we have achieved something good. But we will go to the final to win it. “
Seven straight wins after lockdown had left promotion tantalisingly within Brentford’s grasp, before successive defeats by Stoke and Barnsley consigned them to the play-offs.
That mini implosion set up one, final, dramatic match at Griffin Park, their home for 116 years, before next season’s move to a new 17,250-capacity ground by Kew Bridge.
Frank added: “We have had a very good season, the best in modern times at Brentford. I’m proud of the players.
“We will go into the final with momentum and massive belief, and we will leave everything out there as well.
“It means a lot to me, I’m very pleased, very happy and I will sleep well tonight. But the next task is to win the final.”
For Swansea, who had finished 11 points behind the Bees, it was heartbreak as they were unable to repeat their late goal avalanche on the final day which saw them gatecrash the play-offs.
Swans boss Steve Cooper said: “To fall short at this critical stage is disappointing.
“It’s painful at the moment, when you’re in the semi-finals and you have everything to play for, you can only be disappointed after the game.
“At the moment it’s difficult to see past tonight’s defeat because we really believed we could do it. We just fell short on stuff we ask for on every single game.”