FIVE-STAR BEES DEMOLISH OWLS
Manager Monk left fuming at collapse
TRIUMPHANT Brentford boss Thomas Frank is hoping his side’s thrashing of Sheffield Wednesday will be the turning point in their promotion push.
The Bees had gone five games without a win, but the Dane was full of praise for his side’s defensive mindset and desperate desire to defend their clean sheet.
A Josh Dasilva brace plus efforts from Emiliano Marcondes, Bryan Mbeumo and Tariqe Fosu – his first goal for the Bees – ended the hosts’ fivegame winless run in style.
“We have drawn a few too many recently and some of that may have been down to the fine margins, but I hope this will mean we have turned the corner,” said Frank.
“Our success is built on four main pillars of top attitude, hard work, performance and attitude and we showed all four from start to finish.
“Last season we knew the biggest thing to work on was our desire to defend. We had a February where we conceded some strange goals but today there were some fantastic blocks to protect our goal.
“That was as pleasing as seeing three or four of our players getting forward with real desire when we were four and five goals ahead near the end.”
Defeat for Wednesday left boss Garry Monk fuming.
“That was the most embarrassed I’ve ever felt in football. It was inexcusable. I’ve defended the team before but we were hiding today,” he said.
Dasilva gave the Londoners an early lead when he swept home from 12 yards after Said Benrahma cut in from the left and his blistering drive was parried into his path by keeper Cameron Dawson.
The Bees made it two eight minutes later when a halfcleared ball dropped for Marcondes, who fired over the keeper and into the far corner with an unstoppable dipping drive from 20 yards.
The hosts stretched their lead just after the half hour mark, with Marcondes playing a slide rule pass into the path of Mbeumo, who put the burners on to outpace his marker to coolly slot home into the far corner. Wednesday battled back after the break, but Brentford weathered the storm and exerted their dominance again after 73 minutes when Dasilva was played in by Benrahma and slotted under the keeper for goal No.4.
Brentford were running riot and some intricate inter-passing around the box slipped Fosu in and he fired an angled drive past Dawson into the far corner to complete the rout.
It was no more than the promotion-chasers deserved after a bright start that left the Owls chasing shadows.
To be fair, the visitors did produce the odd glimmer of hope, but overall it was a day the club will want to forget in a hurry, with dejected Monk launching a scathing attacking on his players and the culture at the club after the mauling.
“We have responsibilities in terms of what we face on a football pitch, but the one thing you need is heart and we didn’t show any of that,” he said. “I can only apologise to the fans behind the goal because they don’t deserve this.”