Frank refuses to blame referee after Brentford defeat

Thomas Frank refused to blame referee John Brooks following Brentford’s 3-1 defeat at Tottenham.

Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario clearly handled the ball outside his area in the second half but it was missed by Brooks.

However, Bees boss Frank said: “He had handled it outside the box but that incident did not define the game.

“When we come here, we needed to play 90 good minutes. We played 60.

“It was a mistake. It could have been a free-kick to us. It could have helped us. But I think the probability of scoring from a direct free-kick is like 0.0543, so probably not the biggest probability for scoring anyway.”

Bryan Mbeumo’s thumping strike after just 23 seconds put the visitors ahead.

But Brentford were repeatedly guilty of losing possession – and Spurs’ equaliser came after Ethan Pinnock gave the ball away, with Dominic Solanke slotting in the loose ball after James Maddison’s shot had been saved by keeper Mark Flekken.

After the visitors again gave the ball away, Son Heung-min found Brennan Johnson, went past Nathan Collins before firing into the far corner of the net.

Son also set up Maddison, who cleverly beat Flekken with a chipped finish.