Brentford boss Thomas Frank believes match-winner Yoane Wissa doesn’t get the credit he deserves after his last-gasp strike sealed a dramatic win against West Ham at the London Stadium.
Bryan Mbeumo put the Bees 1-0 up after 20 minutes, tapping in after Sergi Canos’ effort was parried by Hammers keeping Lukasz Fabianski.
West Ham controlled the second half and Jarred Bowen’s 80th minute equaliser seemingly secured a draw, before Wissa struck with the final kick of the game in the 94th minute.
Wissa grabbed a point against Liverpool the previous week with the equaliser in a 3-3 draw – and Frank reckons the Congolese international deserves greater recognition.
Frank said: “When you win a match, a last minute winner, it’s just fantastic. Everything just explodes inside you.
“He (Wissa) deserves a lot of praise. He started later with his fitness levels because he came late to the club, he worked very hard to get up to speed.
“It’s very nice to see that he’s scored in Carabao Cup games, scored against Liverpool - all those small bits where he’s getting better and better.
“He’s working much harder under pressure. I’m so pleased for him.”
WISSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) October 3, 2021
⚒ 1-2 🐝#BrentfordFC #WHUBRE pic.twitter.com/h39tryfJsp
Heading into the second international break Brentford sit seventh in the table on 12 points, having lost just once.
And while excited about a third league win Frank stressed the importance of staying calm, especially after what he thought was a sub-par second half.
He said: “We played a really good first half where we were on the front foot, brave, and deserved to go in front. In the second half we struggled.
“We needed to show resilience, we needed to work unbelievably hard. We needed to show attitude, togetherness, putting bodies on the line and they did that - and massive praise for that.
“But I think we should have played better. We should have kept the ball better, I think we should have handled some of the situations in open play better defensively, but there are games like that.
“I think overall a draw would have been a fair result, but when a match is close in chances and you can just edge it I think that shows a lot about the team.
“There’s been three draws so far this season where I actually think we should have edged it. I think we are on the deserved number of points so far so that’s the big thing for me.
“It’s fantastic. I think there’s no one in this country in the football world that expected Brentford, a bus stop in Hounslow, to have 12 points after seven games.
“That is extremely impressive, but we want more. We will be very happy today, but then we need to come back and train well.”
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