Bryan Mbeumo’s last-gasp penalty gives Brentford fightback win over Watford
Thomas Frank could have been forgiven for thinking his luck had run out. But after a testing few weeks that have seen his side struggle for the fluency that came so easily earlier in the season, the Brentford manager watched on in delight as Pontus Jansson’s equaliser and then Bryan Mbeumo’s penalty in the fifth minute of injury time secured an unlikely comeback victory.
Leading through a seventh goal of the season from Emmanuel Dennis in the first half, a first clean sheet in the league this season was in touching distance for Watford and their manager, Claudio Ranieri, until defender Jansson struck with six minutes to play. Mbeumo’s winner from the spot after William Troost-Ekong inexplicably hacked down substitute Saman Ghoddos must have felt like a dagger to the veteran Italian’s heart.
“Things were not the way we wanted throughout but we never gave up,” Frank said. “The game against Leeds last week was brutal but we accepted conceding a goal in the last minute and this week we have scored in the last minute. It’s a fantastic feeling.”
The first ever top-fight meeting between these clubs was always likely to be a tense affair given the stakes. While Brentford came into the game having only managed one league win since early October, Watford had just ended a run of fixtures against Arsenal, Manchester United, Leicester, Chelsea and Manchester City in succession.
For Brentford – who had confirmed earlier in the day that the club’s co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen is set to leave – the absence of top scorer Ivan Toney for the second match in a row due to Covid meant Frank turned to Mbeumo to lead the line. The forward has the dubious record of having struck the woodwork seven times already this season – more than any other player – but has now found the net three times in the league since Brentford’s promotion.
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