Bees’ dire run under Frank continues despite fightback

Brentford 2 Swansea 3

Brentford suffered their seventh defeat in their nine matches under Thomas Frank despite battling back from being 3-0 down inside half an hour.

In a first half of woeful defending, the Bees conceded inside 25 seconds, scored an own goal through Chris Mepham, and conceded a pitiful third.

But they struck back through Ollie Watkins before the break and Said Benrahma curled in a free-kick on 69 minutes.

But they could not equalise as they did at West Brom last week, with substitute Sergi Canos volleying against the crossbar in stoppage time.

Griffin Park was left stunned as Wayne Routledge tapped home after Swansea’s first move from kick-off, and the visitors swarmed all over the Bees before Mepham’s poor error made it 2-0 on 22 minutes.

Disbelief then turned into booing from the home fans after Leroy Fer, who dominated in midfield, poked a loose ball into the corner to make it 3-0 on 27 minutes.

Brentford, who struck late to draw at West Brom last time out reacted superbly, and Watkins headed into the empty after Josh McEachran’s long-range shot bounced back off the bar.

After the Swans hit the post through Connor Roberts and the bar through Ollie McBurnie, Behrahma, who had hit the bar in the first half, struck with in his first league goal to setup a tense finish.

But Frank’s Brentford suffered a fourth home loss by a single goal – to a team on the back of three successive defeats – as their woeful run goes on.