Soccer
Thomas Frank saluted his “very honest” Brentford side after their hard-earned 1-0 win over West Ham.
Kevin Schade’s early strike was enough to seal three points for the Bees, who have now won three successive Premier League away games for the first time.
The visitors were unfortunate not to go into half-time with a greater advantage, with Schade hitting the post and Yoane Wissa seeing two goals disallowed for offside.
Nevertheless, they demonstrated their defensive solidarity after the break to keep the Hammers at bay, and Frank hailed his players’ efforts.
“[I am] very happy, especially with the first half,” he said. “We were in complete control and dominated through the first 45 minutes.
“The only and relatively big complaint was that we were not out of sight. I thought we could have been three goals up. We had two disallowed, hit the post, we had three or four other big chances and dangerous situations where we needed to get more out of them.
“What I liked is that we were fairly in control of the second half. They had one good chance, but besides that, not too much. Winning 1-0 away, with a good solid defensive performance, [is] very, very good.
“I have a very honest team that work hard. We were playing away against a good side and, sometimes, the nature of the game means you can’t stay on top. Overall, a completely fair and good win.”
A performance that had everything pic.twitter.com/CTOTSjlNOo
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) February 15, 2025
Frank also praised match winner Schade, who has scored in each of Brentford’s three successive away victories, while Wissa echoed his manager’s sentiments.
“We are seeing more and more good things from him,” Frank said. “He is growing into the role. He is playing and, importantly, training consistently for many months.”
“We are definitely happy with him,” Wissa added. “He has good pace, he loves to score, but the first year is always hard. Now, he knows how to play. He is on fire now, so we need to aim high.”
Meanwhile, it was a third defeat in four games for West Ham, who have now failed to win any of the 14 Premier League matches this season in which they have conceded the opening goal.
Graham Potter was made to rue his side’s first-half performance, though he was pleased by the way they responded after the break.
“The first half was not the performance we want at all,” he said. “The goal affects the performance too much. We need to learn a lot from that.
“I was really pleased with the response of the players in the second half when we really pushed. We were a lot more like how we want to be.
“I thought the three subs [Evan Ferguson, James Ward-Prowse and Ollie Scarles] had a positive impact and changed the dynamic of the team. You can see what he [Ferguson] will bring to the team. There are positives there from the second half.”
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