Brentford coach Frank marks 5 years in charge with 3-0 win over Burnley for 1st home win of season
LONDON (AP) — Brentford coach Thomas Frank celebrated five years in charge with a much-needed 3-0 Premier League win over 10-man Burnley on Saturday.
Goals from Yoane Wissa, Bryan Mbeumo and Saman Ghoddos secured a first home victory of the season for the Bees.
But there was also early controversy after Brentford forward Neal Maupay saw a first-half goal disallowed after he headed in a cross from Nathan Collins.
Collins was clearly onside when Mbeumo swung in the initial free kick, while his central-defensive partner Kristoffer Ajer was standing beyond him in an offside position.
But it was Collins who was given offside by video assistant referee Stuart Attwell according to the big screen in the ground, leaving fourth official Darren England — only just returning to Premier League duty after he oversaw the VAR fiasco at Tottenham against Liverpool last month — to face the wrath of Frank.
It was later explained that Ajer had actually been given offside, as he was obstructing Lyle Foster.
Brentford dominated from the start and would have had more than a slender one-goal lead at halftime but for Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford.
The home team's pressure told after 25 minutes when Sander Berge lost possession. Maupay fed the ball out to Mbeumo, whose precise pass across goal was gleefully tapped in at the far post by Wissa.
Maupay’s quest for a goal — he has not scored in the Premier League in more than a year — continued when he found himself one-on-one with Trafford, who got a slight hand to the Frenchman’s shot, and Dara O’Shea got back to hook it off the line.
Brentford has thrown away 11 points from winning positions this season, but there were to be no such jitters this time as it grabbed a second on the hour mark.
Frank Onyeka fed Ajer, who in turn gave Maupay the ball to lay back for Mbeumo, who finished superbly into the top corner from the edge of the area.
For Burnley another week in the bottom three beckons, which will come as little surprise if Luca Koleosho’s late miss-of-the-season contender — he sliced wide of an open goal from five yards out — is anything to go by.
The visitors' miserable afternoon was complete when Connor Roberts was sent off late on for bringing down Wissa before Ghoddos put the gloss on Brentford’s win with a long-range volley.
Brentford moved up to 14th.
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