Said’s double disaster for Parker

SOMETIMES revenge can taste bittersweet. Nothing can erase the damage Fulham inflicted on Brentford at Wembley last season. In the 58 days since Fulham beat them in the play-off final, Bees manager Thomas Frank battled to retain his best players and revive a heartbroken club. This was reward of sorts: victory; a third Premier League scalp; retribution and a slice of history — Brentford have never reached the League Cup last eight. But questions remain: where was this display at Wembley — and have they now lost all hope of keeping Said Benrahma? Last night, with deadline day approaching, he provided a timely reminder of his genius. He had a hand in Marcus Forss’s opener before scoring two, the second a sumptuous curling effort after he had nutmegged Michael Hector to keep alive Brentford’s hopes of the most unlikely return to Wembley. And added a few million to his price? ‘100 per cent,’ Frank laughed afterwards. ‘Either we’re going to get a top price or we’re going to have one of the top offensive players in the division.’ The Brentford boss insisted he took no extra pleasure from payback. ‘It’s particularly satisfying that we wrote history,’ he said. That will be no comfort to Fulham manager Scott Parker. They lacked threat and rhythm and Parker admitted there were few positives to take. Except perhaps two? He can now focus on Premier League survival and owner Tony Khan can worry about those new signings. ‘It is clear that the team needs some help,’ Parker said. ‘We have lost three Premier League matches and the narrative around us is, “It’s a disaster”. There are issues we need to resolve and we will.’ This was another game that laid bare their shortcomings. Neeskens Kebano struck the post with an early free-kick but from there Brentford took control. Midway through the first half Emiliano Marcondes had the ball in the net, only for Forss to be penalised for handball in the build-up. Moments later, however, Forss scored from debutant Saman Ghoddos’s pull-back. In the second half a Brentford free-kick was met by Ethan Pinnock, whose header across goal fell to Benrahma to finish. Fulham sent on Aleksandar Mitrovic but by then the damage was done. Although there was still time for Benrahma’s crowning glory... and perhaps his final bow.