No excuses from Frank after Brentford’s cup exit

Thomas Frank made no excuses after Brentford bowed out of the Carabao Cup with a poor display at Newcastle.

The Bees were beaten 3-1 in a one-sided quarter-final at St James’ Park.

Their injury curse struck again, with Ethan Pinnock limping off after 13 minutes – after Sepp van den Berg had to be withdrawn from the starting line-up after suffering an injury during the warm-up.

Boss Frank had bemoaned Brentford’s packed fixtures schedule ahead of the trip north.

But he admitted his team’s defending was simply unacceptable.

“On the day we met a better team than us. We lost fair and square,” he said.

“I think the main bit I’m disappointed with is the defensive side of the game. We gave, in my opinion, three soft goals away.

“We need to avoid all three and they are definitely avoidable, so that’s the disappointing thing. It gave us a mountain to climb.

“We didn’t defend well enough. That was the key thing. You can’t go to St James’ Park and concede the three goals we conceded.

“We need to do better. I will look into it – everyone needs to look into it. There’s no doubt about it.”

The third of Brentford’s three matches in seven days is at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday in the Premier League.