Brentford missed out on the chance to win automatic promotion to the Premier League after being beaten 2-1 at home by Barnsley.
Despite a slow start to the campaign, Brentford gradually emerged as promotion contenders through the winter, thanks in large part to the form of attacking trio Said Benrahma, Bryan Mbuemo and Ollie Watkins, and a new-found defensive solidity.
After a run of five games without a win in February, the Bees returned from the coronavirus shutdown still ten points adrift of the automatic places, but won their first seven games after the restart to close the gap on the top two.
That run came to an end with Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Stoke, which saw them miss out on the chance to put their fate in their own hands going into the final day, coming less than 24 hours after West Brom had surprisingly slipped up against Huddersfield.
That left Thomas Frank’s side needing to get a better result at home to Barnsley than the Baggies managed at the Hawthorns against QPR in order to overhaul Slaven Bilic’s side and move into the top two for the first time all season.
However, despite West Brom drawing 2-2 to offer the Bees a great chance, Frank's men fell to a late 2-1 defeat at home to Barnsley.
