Bees captain Jansson says a repeat show is on cards

BRENTFORD captain Pontus Jansson believes his side can pull off a replica of their Championship play-off semifinal turnaround last year when they host Bournemouth in the second leg today (12.15pm).

On their journey to last year’s playoff final the Bees lost 1-0 to Swansea City in the first leg before turning the tie around at home in the second leg as they scored two goals in the opening 15 minutes and eventually won 3-1.

Thomas Frank’s team will need something similar again, after losing the first leg again this year 1-0 at Bournemouth thanks to Arnaut Danjuma’s goal – with the visitors unusually subdued throughout the contest.

But Jansson is confident of a repeat and has urged his team to get on the front foot and start quickly as they did in their second leg in 2020.

“It’s only half-time, it’s exactly the same as last year,” he said. “We were 1-0 down to Swansea and then we came out flying from minute one and were 2-0 up at half-time.

“Now, the game will probably look like it did in the last 15 minutes with them giving the initiative to us.”

The all-important contest at the weekend will see fans return to the Brentford Community Stadium.

“The fans gave them a lot of energy in the first half so we’re really going to need our fans,” Jansson said.

“I think our fans are going to have a role to fill, if we want to do something we want to do it together with the fans.

“We’ll need all of them together with the players and hopefully we can do something good.”

As for last weekend, he added: “It was two good teams. The first half they had the advantage, and then after their goal we took over in the second half.

“There’s a lot at stake in a play-off semi-final and all of us have done it now so it’s not something new. Now we can go out and do what we do. We need to win and that’s clear.”