Thomas Frank was relieved to avoid a Gillingham repeat as Brentford won on penalties

On By Littum

Thomas Frank had flashbacks to a Carabao Cup nightmare after Brentford edged past Sheffield Wednesday on penalties to reach the quarter-finals.

The Bees have been successful in this competition, having reached the last eight in three of the last five years and the semi-finals in 2021.

But they also suffered a penalty shoot-out defeat at home to League Two Gillingham after a 1-1 draw two seasons ago.

Brentford dominated the first half against Wednesday but only had Kevin Schade’s early strike to show for it.

“I said at half-time this could be like Gillingham,” said Frank. “It’s a reminder of the super focus we have to have.”

The Dane’s hunch was proved right when Djeidi Gassama equalized for the championship on Wednesday with a spectacular 25-yard strike.

Goalkeeper Mark Flekken was at fault for that goal after making a mess of a throw-in in an attempt to start a counter-attack.

But Flekken made amends when he saved Liam Palmer’s spot-kick as Brentford won the shoot-out 5-4.

“I’m very happy to be at the end of the victory and that we went through. That’s why it’s so difficult in these cups to get all the way,” added Frank.

– We should have been up 2-0. But this time we had five good penalties and a good save.

“The only complaint is we didn’t score another goal in the first half. Second half, goal for them, suddenly it’s ‘what’s going on’?

“You know their players will come on the field and we know they will run through a wall. They worked incredibly hard, well organized.”

Frank had been heavily linked with the Manchester United job before Sporting Lisbon confirmed their approach to head coach Ruben Amorim.

“I think it’s nice for the ego that someone recognizes that I’m a part of something, but I don’t focus too much on it,” he said, drawing a line under that particular saga.

“I have a big responsibility for this club and I love it here and we are one step closer to some more incredible games.”

Wednesday boss Danny Rohl made nine changes to his side and was proud of their efforts.

“An outstanding performance,” he said.

“We know it’s a tough place to come and Thomas and his team are doing really well in the Premier League.

“It was important at half-time to send the message that we have to improve little things and we did better in the second half and showed great character to stay in the game. We stayed in our game plan.

“All in all, I’ll take a draw after 90 minutes as a win for our team.”