Playoff recap: How Brentford made it to Wembley for a second season in a row
West London side, Brentford, overcame a 1-0 first-leg deficit to take a place in the Play-off Final at Wembley with a thrilling 3-1 win over Bournemouth.
Going into the game the Bees knew they had to attack after losing the first leg down on the south coast, and attack they did, taking the majority of possession but a horrible mix up from a corner led to a lethal Bournemouth counterattack, Arnout Danjuma the scorer again, doubling the Cherries advantage.
Despite the setback, Brentford continued on the front foot and Championship top scorer, Ivan Toney, levelled the scores on the day with a penalty after Lloyd Kelly handled in the box.
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What followed was arguably the ties defining moment, Bryan Mbuemo, who had been deployed from the start in this leg, found himself through on goal, only to be pulled down by Chris Mepham resulting in a straight red for the defender.
Brentford took the lead early in the second half and levelled things on aggregate with a looping effort from Vitaly Janelt. At this point, the close to 4000 Brentford fans could feel a winner coming.
They didn’t have to wait too long for that winner either; substitute striker Marcus Forss produced a poacher’s finish getting onto the end of a low cross into the six-yard box to send those fans into raptures.
Bournemouth could not respond and will have to spend at least another year in the Championship. Brentford, on the other hand, return to the Playoff Final for the second year in a row, hoping to overcome that final hurdle for the first time and play in the Premier League.
Brentford Manager, Thomas Frank, who was in charge when the Bees lost to Fulham in last year’s final, was not getting ahead of himself following the win:
"It’s one more game to go, no doubt about it.I always say we have a 24-hour rule and I’m not saying we can’t celebrate tonight with a few glasses of red, because we’re fighting for so many things right at the moment. It’s important to celebrate your small wins.But it’s a maximum of 24 hours and we need to move on again. (Via: BBC Sport)"
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