TUE 04 AUG 2020CHAMPIONSHIP

• Dalsgaard (120’+4minutes)

AETHT 0-0FT 0-0

• Bryan (105’minutes, 117’minutes)

Championship play-off final: Brentford 1-2 Fulham (AET)

By Rob Stevens

BBC Sport at Wembley

Fulham beat Brentford in the Championship play-off final to secure an immediate return to the Premier League thanks to two extra-time goals from Joe Bryan.

So Brentford continue their series of failures in the play-offs. I watched the game at home with cola and peppermint tea. I stayed mostly calm but frustrated with a lot of the performance as the Bees could not respond to the pressing, defensive techniques of Fulham. As with previous games they could not respond more than longer balls and the central defenders making the plays. No midfielder who could or was willing to to keep ball at foot and force commitment from the opposition. I have seen the same many times before.

Star players did not come to fore. Benrama looked busy, desperate to impress future employers but ineffective. Jensen anonymous- not making self available or not used by team mates? More of the latter I think.

And now the sell off will happen. Watkins already in the news as other clubs look for his signature. I suppose Brentford will get the money and then hopefully finds the next gem. But I do not see another imminent push to the top level next season.

From the BBC:

“Brentford finished third in the table, one place above Fulham on goal difference, and won both league meetings during the regular campaign.

If they fail to win, the Bees will have taken part in more unsuccessful play-off campaigns in the English Football League than any other club, with this their ninth attempt.”

Championship

Silk and steel: how Thomas Frank gave Brentford reason to dream big

The Bees struggled early on in the Dane’s reign but this modest club now stand one game away from the Premier League

Ben Fisher

Mon 3 Aug 2020 08.00 BSTLast modified on Tue 4 Aug 2020 04.37 BST

It was long after the final whistle at Griffin Park last Wednesday, and a little before David Raya and Sergi Canós carved up the goal net to take a patch as a souvenir from the stadium’s last competitive game. The Brentford owner, Matthew Benham, was taking penalties at the Ealing Road end, trying to replicate Marcello Trotta’s infamous stoppage-time miss against Doncaster in 2013, when the striker smacked the crossbar before James Coppinger tapped in at the other end to extinguish any hope of automatic promotion from League One. Seven years on, the magnitude of the prize at stake is incomparable.

And the rest:

A day of history? One way or another- yes.

It seems almost ridiculous to be thinking of Brentford playing in the top flight- the Premier League as it is now. For all those years of 3rd and 4th tier football, remembering gong to GF as a kid when the style was limited and understanding the risk to the club’s survival: it seems unreal that they are in such a position.

At the beginning of the season to be in the play-offs was considered a good result. That they had the chance to take automatic promotion was amazing- though clearly did not work out. However, you cannot complain as the level of achievement is above what was expected.

I can remembering asking my dad many years ago if he could see Brentford reaching the FA Cup final. I think he laughed at the thought. This is clearly bigger than that. Dreamlike. The lads talked in the pub on the last Saturday of the season game when a win against Stoke could have gone a long way to achieving promotion. We laughed at the ridiculous thought of the Bees entertaining the likes of Liverpool and Man U. at home. Something previously considered mad but now not so far away.

90 minutes against west London rivals Fulham. A great way to go about it.

At the same time as saying ‘COYB’- there is still the nagging fear of what happens to smaller clubs who are promoted and whether they manage to survive intact in the future. I have that fear though think they re more likely to enjoy their time in the sun, lose, but take the money.

Brentford 3 – 1 Swansea

Brentford

Home team scorersOllie Watkins 11Emiliano Marcondes 15Bryan Mbeumo 46

Swansea

Away team scorersRhian Brewster 78

Aggregate 3-2 Brentford win 3-2 on aggregate

Championship

Brentford fight off Swansea to reach play-off final in Griffin Park swansong

Jonathan Liew at Griffin Park

Wed 29 Jul 2020 22.35 BSTFirst published on Wed 29 Jul 2020 22.11 BST

A night for moving on. For shedding baggage, and laying the past to rest. On the night Brentford said their farewells to Griffin Park, they came closer to top-flight football than they have done at any point since 1947. They did so with a sparkling modern brand of football quite at odds with the weathered girders and sardine seats of their old home.

The hope does not take long to disappear.

A poor performance and the opportunity to control their future and possible promotion has gone.

The reason- pressure and anxiety? Lack of fitness after so many game and loss of movement and style? Poor passing and no real pressure on the opposition.

So back to likely play-off process after the last round of games next Wednesday unless wild things happen.

COYB.