Frank relieved after ‘painful’ Bees display

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Thomas Frank admitted that Brentford’s second-half performance against Luton was “extremely painful” as his side held out for a crucial 1-0 win.

The visitors dominated after the break but Samman Ghoddos’ early goal was enough to take the Bees up to third in the Championship.


Frank said: “Second half, big credit to Luton, they did very well and were the best team. We were too passive and we decided to throw the ball away every time we had a chance.

“As a quality performance on the eye it was a 3/10, but for work, effort and attitude it was 10/10. We had to dig in and did everything we needed to do to get a win – and you need to do that sometimes.

“I thought it was maybe the worst 45 minutes we have played in our 16 unbeaten (Championship) games, although I don’t want to take any credit away from Luton.

“They are a good team and difficult to play against. We looked flat in the second half and I am very pleased with the three points.”

Frank was much happier with his side’s first-half display, and said: “In the first 35 minutes, we were really good, extremely sharp and quick and impressive, and created chances and scored a beautiful goal. I thought we should have been up maybe more than one goal.”

Ivan Toney will be suspended for Sunday’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Leicester after he was sent off late on for a second yellow card – a decision Frank said he “couldn’t understand”.

Meanwhile, with less than two weeks remaining of the transfer window, Frank said he was happy with his squad, although added the club was “always in the market and ready if something shows up”.

And he revealed that Pontus Jansson and Christian Norgaard had been joined on the injury list by Emiliano Marcondes, explaining: “Emi is out for a few weeks. It’s a minor back issue that he has been struggling with for a few weeks.

“He always does a massive effort for the team and pushed himself through a tough spell in December. We needed to get him through to the Tottenham game, and now he is having a minor break (to recover).”