Brentford 1-0 Newcastle: Josh Dasilva sends Bees to Carabao Cup semi-finals

Brentford reached the semi-final of a major tournament for the first time with a deserved victory over Newcastle United in the Premier League in the Carabao Cup.

It was the advance that the Bees deserved as they dominated, with Saman Ghoddos hitting the crossbar and Sergi Canos finishing off wide with the goal at their mercy in the first half.

Callum Wilson briefly threatened for the Newcastle visitors, but all the urgency and progressive football came from Brentford, who made six changes from his weekend win over Reading, including dropping second division top scorer Ivan Toney, on the bench against his former club.

Brentford show class one more time

Around their new Brentford Community Stadium, Frank and his players showed how well they have recovered from the bitter pain of the defeat to Fulham in the championship play-off final and the loss of key players.

Last season’s main forward, Ollie Watkins, and attack creator, Said Benrahma, both went to Aston Villa and West Ham United respectively, but Frank still has an attractive, forward-thinking side.

This game could have ended in the first half had Brentford seized those opportunities, but it wasn’t more than they deserved when Dasilva finally broke the deadlock.

The Bees are back in the top four in the championship, three points away from automatic promotion spots, and looming once again as serious candidates for promotion.

And all this was achieved with a very changed team. Frank insisted before Tuesday’s game that despite the changes, Brentford had the quality and inspiration to win and no one can envy them a historic victory.

Newcastle embarrassed on a gloomy night

The Newcastle players made their way to the locker room sanctuary very quickly at the end of a gloomy night that is sure to bring a storm of criticism over the head of coach Steve Bruce and his players.

They got the kindest ending to the quarterfinal draw by avoiding the Premier League bigwigs, even though this was still a tough task against a very good Championship team.

Newcastle was not even close to taking advantage.

Yes, the magpies recently suffered from a Covid-19 outbreak in their camp, but there can be no excuses for the lack of momentum, ideas and quality that were unveiled in West London on Tuesday.

Newcastle worked the entire time and was reduced to the desperate ploy of throwing long balls at substitute Andy Carroll in the final stages, while their opponents still opened up opportunities for lively substitute Toney with smart passes.

Bruce has struggled to win over the Toon Army despite some respectable places in the league, but this result and performance will fall horribly at Tyneside, a glorious opportunity wasted with a performance devoid of energy and inspiration.

This was a very, very bad night for Bruce and Newcastle.

‘We have missed a great opportunity’ – what they said

Frank, Brentford boss, to Sky Sports: “It means a lot to me, the staff and the players because it is a great step and a great victory.

“We want to be part of creating a totally new story for Brentford, so that makes me proud. But I’m even more proud of the way we played today. We deserved to win the game and we played against a strong team.” so I must praise the boys.

“One of their forwards cost more than the three forwards, so we knew they could put one in the back of the net at the end of the game, but we beat it and we won.”

Bruce, the Newcastle manager, also for Sky Sports: “Unfortunately we have not done enough so we have to accept what lies ahead and prepare for what is a huge challenge ahead in the Premier League.”

“I cannot hide my disappointment because we have had a great opportunity to enter a first semi-final in many years. I am bitterly disappointed and very, very frustrated.”

“I stick to what I said when I walked in the door: I chose the team that I thought would be good enough to win the game. Unfortunately, Brentford played very, very well on the night.”

Brentford makes history – the statistics

• Brentford has reached the semi-final of a major FA Cup / League Cup competition for the first time, on his fifth attempt.
• Only Arsenal (13), Norwich City, Southampton and Tottenham (all nine) have suffered more eliminations from the League Cup quarter-finals than Newcastle (eight).
• Prior to this season, Brentford had knocked out high-level opponents in just two of their 22 League Cup qualifiers, but the Bees have beaten double in the 2020-21 competition alone.
• Newcastle manager Bruce has lost five of his six quarter-finals as manager, including both in charge of the Magpies, as he was also beaten by Manchester City in last season’s FA Cup.
• Since the start of last season, 10 of Dasilva’s 14 goals at Brentford have come in home games.

Whats Next?

Brentford, fourth in the championship, continues his momentum for promotion with a trip to Cardiff City on Saturday (start at 15:00 GMT).

On the same day, Newcastle returns to Premier League action with a visit to Manchester City (8pm).