'Don't ever put me through that again!' Frank's plea to his Brentford troops

It was far from pretty. It was no game for a neutral. But for Thomas Frank, it was just what the doctor ordered.

Saturday's 2-0 home win over Championship-bound Sheffield United ended a nine-game sequence without a win and has transformed the outlook for the remaining weeks of the campaign. There is daylight at the end of the relegation tunnel.

"I'm feeling happy and relieved," the Bees boss said after this crucial win. "I just said to the players 'Please don't do that to me or themselves again that we don't win in nine.'

"That spell and this season is a reminder, we always learn, that this league is brutal, relentless - the best and toughest league in the world. I don't know exactly what to learn but just don't expect anything. You don't know when you go into a season.

"I was optimistic. Great squad, great players - let's attack! And then this is hitting you. But day by day, game by game, this was another win. It was a good performance - not through the roof - and I think it was a well-deserved win.

"We had some luck today on the first goal [an own goal] but we were definitely still due a lot of that."

Frank will have taken great satisfaction that his team got over the line without Ivan Toney, who was left on the bench as he recovers from illness and a hip injury. The England striker is expected to start at Luton next Saturday.

The Bees coach admitted the front three of Yoanne Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo either side of Neal Maupay "did not reach any great heights against the Blades", but did their bit for the cause.

Kristoffer Ajer was missing with a calf strain and is 'touch and go' for the trip to Kenilworth Road.

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