Brentford 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday (5-4 on penalties): Bees into Carabao Cup quarter-finals after shootout win
- Kevin Schade's first goal of the season opened the scoring in the 11th minute
- Djeidi Gassama equalised for Wednesday from long range just before the hour
- The first 10 penalties in the shootout were scored but Liam Palmer was denied
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For once it wasn’t a lightning quick start or a stoppage-time winner that sealed it for Brentford, but somehow the most dramatic finish of them all as the Bees saw off Sheffield Wednesday on penalties to reach the Carabao Cup last-eight.
Thomas Frank’s team selection was a strong one, though he will have been hoping for a more routine win over the Championship outfit.
Ultimately, the Bees were rescued by Mark Flekken’s penalty save to deny Liam Palmer and send the hosts through, after strikes from Kevin Schade and Djeidi Gassama in normal time.
After the game the Danish boss was adamant that links to the newly-vacated managerial role at Manchester United were nothing more than a boost ‘to the ego’.
Frank said: ‘I think it’s nice for the ego to be recognised as part of something that’s going well but it’s not just me.
Mark Flekken's penalty save on Tuesday sent Brentford into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals
Brentford beat Sheffield Wednesday in a penalty shootout after their game had ended 1-1
Brentford went 1-0 up on 11 minutes when Kevin Schade (left) scored his first goal this season
‘I was focused on today to do everything to get over the line. I’ve got a big responsibility to the leadership, the players, the club and the fans.
‘I love it here, and we got one step closer to making some more incredible magic.’
It was a comparatively sluggish 11-minute wait for Schade to open the scoring, profiting from a very favourable deflection to finish past Pierce Charles and at last end his 16-game goalless run.
Only two teams have seen less of the ball in the Championship than the Owls, and it will have been an all too familiar sight for the visitors as the Bees poked, prodded and probed for an opening.
But it was a moment of Mbeumo brilliance that almost produced a second, with the forward cutting inside from the right, flitting inside the box through two defenders, and lashing a shot that was well saved by Charles.
However almost out of nowhere, following nearly an hour of pressure, Gassama lasered one into the bottom corner from 25 yards for a shock emphatic equaliser after the break.
It was 1-1 in the 57th minute after Owls star Djeidi Gassama (right) scored from long range
Twenty-one-year-old winger Gassama celebrated his goal by putting his finger to his lips
The first nine penalties in the shootout all found the net, including one from Michael Smith
But Wednesday icon Liam Palmer, on his 450th appearance for the club, failed to beat Flekken
Flekken pictured celebrating with Brentford team-mate Yoane Wissa (right) after the shootout
The Owls rang the changes, sensing weakness but it was the hosts that came closest to the winner, with Schade denied from an acute angle on 80 minutes. The visitors sent a warning shot of their own three minutes later through Marvin Johnson, which was tipped over by Flekken.
But penalties were required to separate the two, and after nine faultless strikes, Flekken leapt to his right to deny Palmer and secure a result that really should have come far earlier in the encounter.
Beaten Owls boss Danny Rohl said: ‘All in all, I take the draw after 90 minutes as a win for the team, we’ve grown together in the last six, seven weeks as a squad. It doesn’t matter who (plays), but everyone brings their quality.’
