Frank plucked Hen to safety
MARCELO BIELSA admitted he couldn’t help raising the Roofe as Leeds swept to the top of the Championship table with a last-gasp goal.
Kemar Roofe hit his 11th of the season in the 94th minute to pull off an astonishing comeback against Aston Villa.
Bielsa’s boys were 2-0 down at half-time but staged a brilliant second-half fightback.
Roofe smashed the ball in with just a minute of added time left to win it and Bielsa admitted the excitement was all too much for him.
The Argentinian said: “We were all just so overwhelmingly happy – maybe too much!
“We were satisfied with the draw, so we felt euphoric when the ball went in so late on.”
Roofe delivered the killer THOMAS FRANK admitted dropping Henrik Dalsgaard was to stop the defender from burning out.
Brentford boss Frank rested his fellow Dane as his side earned a vital win over Bolton.
Neal Maupay struck on 62 minutes to give the Bees just their second victory in 16 games.
Brentford face the Christmas period on the road, with a Boxing Day trip to Bristol City and then Birmingham on Saturday.
High-flying Norwich visit Griffin Park on New Year’s Day and Frank felt his hand was forced regarding the change.
“Henrik is a top professional and footballer with a lot of experience and only wants the best for Brentford,” he said.
“It was obvious that he hadn’t hit his highest performances in the last couple of games.
“But also he’s the only one who hasn’t had a holiday more or less.
“There’s other managers blow after Ahmed Elmohamady gifted the ball into his path, to leave the home fans shaking their heads in disbelief.
Tammy Abraham smashed Villa in front with just five minutes gone after brilliant work by John McGinn.
And in the 17th minute Conor Hourihane curled a cracking left-footer into the bottom corner for 2-0.
Leeds threw everything at Villa after the break and Jack Clarke fired home in the 56th minute
Pontus Jansson headed in Pablo Hernandez’s corner five minutes later to make it 2-2.
And Leeds should have had a penalty when Glenn Whelan handled Roofe’s header, but the striker took his revenge with a clinical finish at the death. talking about players being exhausted because it’s a long season.
“I’m not going to play the same starting 11 over the next three games, we need freshness.”
Both teams looked short of confidence up front.
But it was French striker Maupay who gave the Bees three points with a second-half effort.
However, Bolton keeper Ben Alnwick came astonishingly close to snatching a point with a late header.
Defeat leaves the Trotters going into Christmas second bottom in the table and with no win since September.
But manager Phil Parkinson reckons his side just needs a slice of luck to kick-start their campaign.
He said: “The lads are toiling really hard at the moment and we need somebody to give us that moment of quality.”