BEES swarm on Boro
UNDERDOGS TAKE REVENGE ON BENT
BRENTFORD manager Mark Warburton was delighted to get his own back on Darren Bent as Brentford sneaked into the Play-Offs on goal difference.
He said justice was done as his troops capitalised on a slip from Bent’s Derby – and Wolves’ inability to score more against Millwall – with strikes from Alex Pritchard, Jota and Andre Gray.
Bent had scored a controversial late equaliser against the Bees last month. Warburton explained: “Bent’s goal was something I was thinking about in the lead up to today.
“People talk about our late goals, but that moment had been playing on my mind.
“He was lucky to have still been on the pitch and then he scuffed the ball into the goal right at the end.
“But things have a way of evening themselves up.
“Now the most lucrative game in world football is two games away for Brentford.”
He also hit out at critics of young striker Gray. He added: “Andre has come from the Conference at 23 years of age and scored 17 goals.
“He reads the fan forums and newspapers, and despite his goals there have been hurtful comments.
“He gets frustrated with himself. It does affect him.
“I said to him today to go out and enjoy it, and look, he scored once again.”
Wigan manager Gary Caldwell is already thinking about life in League One. He said: “I won’t accept performances like that. We lost focus in the second half and simply didn’t do enough.
“We have a very y long g summer ahead of us, but I am going to o put my own stamp on the club.
“But look at Brentford and Bournemouth – they are an example le to us to show what can be done.
“Brentford showed us today that you need characters, and I’m sure they will go very close in the Play-Offs.”
You would have been forgiven for thinking Wigan were the promotion contenders early on, Caldwell’s side starting fluidly with Marc-Antoine Fortune testing David But Button from the off.
After they sang sarcastically about next season’s visit to Shrewsbury T To w n , the tr travelling faithful we were in raptures as Fortune had the ball in the net midway 20 minutes in, but it had run out of play in the build-up.
Brentford, though, had a job to do, and took the lead through a thunderbolt from
The most lucrative game in world football is two games away
MARK WARBURTON
Alex Pritchard (left) midway through the first half.
His 30 yard free- kick skimmed the top of the Wigan wall and flew into the top corner of Lee Nicholls’ net to send Brentford fans checking their phones for news of results elsewhere.
Spaniard Jota lashed into the net just after the restart as the Bees piled forward and he guided into the bottom corner to make things more comfortable.
Wigan almost pulled one back straight away, but David Button did well to save on the line when it looked like Jake Bidwell had deflected into his goal.
Brentford continued the charge and Gray twice went close, while James Tarkowski clattered the underside of the bar in a strange atmosphere as fans began cheering the events in Derby and Wolverhampton.
Brentford were two games away from Wembley. Jermaine Pennant played there in an FA Cup final for Stoke City four years ago, but that seemed a million miles away when his poor pass put in Gray for a third.
Keeper Nicholls got down well to save a Tarkowski penalty but Warburton’s men had done enough to seal a semi-final with Boro.