Frank praises Bees players after cup defeat

Brentford 0 Leicester 1

Brentford were knocked out of the FA Cup despite a spirited performance at Griffin Park.

The Bees, despite their efforts, were out of luck against a Leicester City side who were lacklustre for significant spells. However, a very early goal by Foxes striker Kelechi Iheanacho was enough to see Brendan Rodgers’ men through to the fifth round.

Boss Thomas Frank was full of praise for his young team, who pushed the visitors all the way.

“I’m very pleased with the performance, I must say,” Frank declared.

“You can’t ask for more. The players put everything out there, were brave, took the initiative and created chances.

“We really stepped it up in the second half and I felt at least a draw would have been fair.

“We went toe-to-toe against Leicester and we got some very good answers from some of our players who don’t normally start.”

With an eye on Tuesday’s vital Championship clash at home to Nottingham Forest, Frank opted for a very experimental line-up. Defender Pontus Jansson was absent through injury, Ollie Watkins was rested, while Said Benrahma was missing on compassionate leave.

Just as they were hoping to settle and contain their more illustrious visitors, the Bees were caught cold after only four minutes.

Showing characteristic speed of thought from a side at the top end of the Premier League, Iheanacho finished off a flowing, lightning move at the far post, turning the ball home from a cross by James Justin on the right.

Brentford were, naturally, stunned by the blow and could have conceded a second, only for busy keeper Luke Daniels to parry a fierce Ayoze Perez effort from a tight angle.

Nevertheless, the Bees, to their credit, found a rhythm at last, and Jan Zamburek was busy prompting moves as well as drawing out a good save from Danny Ward. The Foxes keeper was also fortunate to see Emiliano Marcondes shoot against the side netting amid an admirable recovery from the hosts, showing glimpses of the usual solid home form, regardless of opposition.

Brentford did have a scare on 43 minutes when the impressive Perez brought out another superb save from Daniels.

After the restart, with Frank sending on Josh Dasilva for injured Kamo Mokotjo, Joel Valencia probably should have done better when he zipped a half volley past the far post when left unmarked inside the Leicester penalty area.

Sensing some Foxes’ complacency, Brentford went so close to levelling. Forward Halil Dervisoglu clipped the post from six yards out following a whipped low cross by Marcondes on the left, before alert Christian Fuchs finally cleared the danger.

Even this particular threat failed to alert the Foxes, whose levels had tailed off, and for large chunks of the second half certainly never looked like doubling their lead, although Brentford, in the main, lacked sufficient ingenuity. Frank did give Bryan Mbuemo the final 10 minutes at the expense of Valencia in an attempt to equalise.

And the Bees nearly grabbed the elusive goal when Lucka Racic was denied on the volley by Ward from Marcondes’ corner.