Brentford manager, Thomas Frank went from despair to jubilation in five minutes as his side turned around a goal deficit to beat fellow Premier League new boys, Watford in West London on Friday night.
With Watford taking the lead early in the first half through an Emmanuel Dennis header, Brentford slowly wore down their opposition and snatched two late goals through Pontus Jansson and Bryan Mbeumo.
Learning from heartache
After the game, Frank waxed lyrical about the late winner having felt the heartache of a last minute defeat a week ago away to Leeds United,
"It's crazy. This is what football is all about, these are the moments we are working so hard to try and achieve.
For everything we've been through, in terms of having a lot of injuries, a massive performance against Leeds only getting one point, two big big players out with COVID and we had to play Vita [Janelt] out of position. So we were really hit hard for this game, going 0-1 down against a Watford team who have been in the Premier League seven out of the last eight seasons...
We need to fight back, stay in the game, score in the 84th minute, never settled for a draw, keep pushing forward and finally get the winner. Everything is unbelievable and well deserved, all that put together - oh my god it's a fantastic feeling. I need to say it's going to be two big glasses of red wine!"
Half-time changes
Reflecting on his side's performance, Frank was honest with his side at half-time about what was needed to achieve the result,
"We were the best team in the first half especially before the goal. So, it was a little bit of a sucker punch and we conceded on a set-piece that again, we shouldn't concede so we need to do that better. After that, I felt we lacked a little bit of energy and we struggled a little bit, but we still need to stay in the game.
We talked about it a lot at half-time, do the same, hit the spaces in the 10 positions we had between the lines. We had Shandon [Baptiste] and [Yoane] Wissa a lot of times there, kept doing that, keep switching, getting more crosses in but more tempo and energy into the game. We kept going and kept going, which was remarkable and a fantastic mentality."
Forss of nature
At full-time, Frank was full of praise for substitute Marcus Forss, who proved to be a game-changer with his energy,
"So impressed, unbelievable. I praised them in the dressing room very much. I said especially to Marcus Forss what a top mentality after maybe being disappointed not to be selected for the game against Leeds, not even coming on the pitch. Again today, I for whatever reason, picked another striker, but I just knew that he will come on and produce something because if he has that top mentality like other players have, they maximise their potential. He had a crucial flick, and brought energy, pressed, a presence in the box."
Up next
With just a few days to enjoy the victory before welcoming Manchester United to West London, Frank was well aware of the quick turnaround,
"I will enjoy the 24 hours. Tomorrow, the players are off, some are in treatment and bits and pieces. Of course, I will start working after a good night's sleep, but right now I just want to enjoy it."
And with five matches between now and the new year, including an EFL Cup quarter-final at home to Chelsea, Brentford are going to need all the rest they can get.