Thomas Frank ‘immensely proud’ as 10-man Brentford seal play-off spot

Brentford manager Thomas Frank was “immensely proud” after his 10-man side beat promotion rivals Bournemouth 1-0 to seal their Sky Bet Championship play-off place.

Substitute Bryan Mbeumo came off the bench to bag the winner 13 minutes from time after captain Pontus Jansson had been sent off just five minutes into the second half.

Bees boss Frank said: “I am more than delighted. I am immensely proud of the players and I hope the fans are as well.

“In the first half we were by far the better side and in the second half, when it was 10 against 11, they created zero chances.

“We went for the win throughout the game, that says everything about the attitude and the togetherness throughout the team.

“Sometimes you take some decisions and they pay off. The easy thing with 10 men is to be very defensive but we wanted to be positive and try and win the game.”

Bournemouth had a let-off in the 13th minute when Sergi Canos’ close-range effort from a Marcus Forss knockdown was cleared off the line by Steve Cook.

Nine minutes later goalkeeper Asmir Begovic did well to claw Mathias Jensen’s low shot through a crowded penalty area behind for a corner.

The best chance of the first half came 14 minutes before half-time and Brentford’s top-scorer Ivan Toney should have fired the Bees in front.

Vitaly Janelt’s ball over the top forced a slip from Bournemouth captain Cook, allowing Toney to race clean through on goal but he put a weak shot straight at Begovic.

The frustrated Toney had two more good openings before half-time, first in the 43rd minute when he blazed a cross-cum-shot harmlessly across the face of goal after being slid through by Jensen.

Then two minutes later Toney flashed a left-footed half volley inches wide of the far post after plucking another Jensen pass from the sky.

Brentford’s hopes of victory suffered a major setback when Jansson was cheaply dismissed five minutes after the restart for wrestling Arnaut Danjuma to the ground.

Frank bravely sent on striker Mbeumo for the final stages and that change paid off when the Frenchman grabbed the winner.

Begovic could only parry Toney’s initial shot and Mbeumo was on hand to slam home the rebound from six yards.

Bournemouth boss Jonathan Woodgate, whose side were bidding for a club-record-equalling eighth straight league win, said: “To win seven games in a row is a fantastic effort but it had to come to an end at some point.

“I can’t fault the players’ effort. Maybe we ran out of steam. I thought when they went down to 10 men we would win but they defended well.

“We had opportunities in the first half but the final ball and the decision-making was not good enough.

“I have said even when we have won games that we need to be better. We need to keep improving. We learn every game we play.”