Brentford recorded a dramatic 2-1 win over Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Bryan Mbeumo netted his 50th goal in Brentford colours four minutes before the end of the game, before Yoane Wissa rifled beyond Mark Travers deep into stoppage time to cancel out Dominic Solanke’s equaliser.


Solanke goal ruled out for handball; Lewis-Potter goes closest for Brentford

Thomas Frank named an unchanged side to the one that drew 0-0 with Fulham at Gtech Community Stadium seven days earlier.

The Bees started on the front foot in the south coast sunshine and created a succession of half chances. It was a spell that culminated in Keane Lewis-Potter testing Travers as he cut inside and fired low at goal.

Antoine Semenyo then got to the byline and fizzed the home side’s best chance of the contest to that point narrowly over the bar.

It lifted the home crowd, who then saw Dominic Solanke nearly turn home Semenyo’s cutback before Ivan Toney’s volley at the other end was tipped wide by Travers.

The home side then had the ball in the net on 27 minutes.

The lively Semenyo was involved again, bypassing the challenge of Sergio Reguilón, but looking like he handled the ball in the process.

Solanke was the beneficiary as play continued and his deflected shot off Nathan Collins found its way into the net, but after a VAR check referee Matthew Donohue ruled it out.

Frank’s men had their best opening of the first half when Lewis-Potter did well to get in behind from Toney’s lofted pass, before cutting it back to Mbeumo in the box. His shot was blocked, and the hosts then threw themselves in the way of Toney’s effort on the rebound.

Bournemouth had the ball in the net again through Solanke nine minutes before the break, but referee Donohue had already blown his whistle as the forward was adjudged to have fouled Collins in the build-up.

There was still time for Flekken to deny both Semenyo and Lewis Cook before the interval as the teams went in all square.

Wissa scores late winner as second half ends with a flourish

Mikkel Damsgaard had Brentford’s first chance of the second period, created by some neat footwork on the edge of the area, but his shot was thwarted.

The game had lulled slightly but came back to life on the hour mark.

Another slick Brentford move was started and ended by Lewis-Potter, as the wide man set the attack on its way before beating Travers but not Lloyd Kelly on the goal line.

Frank then made a triple switch as he introduced Mads Roerslev, Mathias Jensen and Wissa as the game entered the final half an hour.

The latter was involved immediately as the Bees were awarded a penalty.

The forward latched on to Damsgaard’s pass and broke the offside trap, drove into the box and cut it back for Toney.

He was adjudged to have been fouled by Illia Zabarnyi before Donohue went to the VAR screen for the second time of the afternoon and overturned his on-field decision.

The Bees weren’t to be denied though. Mbeumo fired them into the lead four minutes before the end of the game.

Flekken’s quick distribution set Wissa away down the right, whose first-time flick found Mbeumo in on goal.

The forward made no mistake with the finish into the bottom corner to net his 50th goal for the club.

The pendulum swung almost immediately though, and the hosts levelled through Solanke, who headed home Marcos Senesi’s deep cross back into the far corner as nine added minutes were indicated.

A quite remarkable ending to the game had one more twist, as a third goal in nine minutes sealed the contest in the Bees’ favour.

Wissa and Mbeumo combined again, but this time it was the latter who laid it on a plate for his team-mate to rifle the ball high into the net and put Brentford back into the lead deep into stoppage time.

The Bees saw out the remainder of the game to record their sixth away win of the campaign on the penultimate weekend of the season.

Brentford: Flekken, Ajer (Roerslev 62), Collins, Pinnock, Reguilón, Janelt (Yarmoliuk 83), Norgaard (Jensen 62), Damsgaard (Schade 74), Mbeumo, Toney, Lewis-Potter (Wissa 62)

Subs not used: Strakosha, Valdimarsson, Zanka, Ghoddos

Bournemouth: Travers, Smith (Adams 80), Kelly, Zabarnyi, Senesi, Christie (Scott 80), Cook, Ouattara (Tavernier 67), Kluivert (Unal 67), Semenyo, Solanke.

Subs not used: Neto, Aarons, Billing, Sadi, Hill


Frank: It was a fair win

Brentford boss Thomas Frank labelled the game as "even" and the Bees' win as "fair".

“We were very, very good in so many ways. Bournemouth are a good team, a difficult team to play against," he explained.

“When I checked it before the game, both teams had scored 52 goals, we had conceded 60 and they had conceded 63 - all respect to Bournemouth, they’ve done really well - but that’s a good picture of our underlining performance.  

“We could or should have been up there if we had converted some of our chances and avoided some of them at the other end. 

“You can see that both teams are very even and it was an even game overall. I would say we still edged it, not only with the win but throughout different situations. It was a fair win. 

“And we scored two unbelievable goals. Wow.” 

Mbeumo: We fought until the last minute

Bryan Mbeumo, scorer of Brentford’s first goal and creator of the second in the 2-1 victory over Bournemouth, hailed the Bees’ fighting spirit after Saturday’s late win on the south coast.

“I feel very good and very happy with the win today,” he said.

“It was a tough game against a really good team; we fought until the last minute to get the winning goal.

“We wanted to win today and we gave everything.”