Thomas Frank has spoken of his pride in his players after Brentford’s best season in the modern era ended in play-off final heartbreak.
The Bees finished third in the Championship, their best performance since they were relegated from the top tier in 1947, but were beaten 2-1 after extra-time by west London rivals Fulham in Tuesday night’s Wembley showpiece.
“It’s tough when you lose a final like this in a very tight game,” Frank said. “I’m extremely proud of my players and this club and what we’ve achieved this season.
"We’ve gone from a mid-table club to a team who in the league table was third-best.
“We are very, very fine margins away from the Premier League which is an incredible achievement from us.
"I cannot praise my players and staff enough but this is football and you don’t always get what you deserve.
“It’s important that everybody relaxes for a few days and finds out that the sun will rise again tomorrow, it’s not the end of the world. I’ll be very sad tonight but that’s the way it is.
“My message [to the players] was I was extremely proud of them, they’ve been giving everything for 13-and-a-half months in a long and weird season.
"In many ways its crazy that we scored the most goals, we had the second-best defence, we have the best front three, a few things that in a normal season we might be going up.”
Joe Bryan’s clever free-kick caught David Raya napping to break the deadlock in the first-half of extra-time, giving Fulham a lead they would never surrender. However, Frank refused to blame his golden glove-winning goalkeeper.
“I think in a game like this it’s fine margins. You can always discuss if it’s a mistake or a bit of brilliance by Bryan but the fact is they scored and its one of the reasons we lost the game.”
