Brentford v Swansea City Competition - Sky Bet Championship Stage - Play Off Final Venue - Wembley Date - 29 May 2021 Kick Off - 3pm I’m absolutely delighted to be writing one last thread for the 20/21 season as it means that our beloved Swans have reached the Championship Play Off Final. It feels like it was always going to be the case that Brentford would be the opponents and so it has turned out to be. Last night, in a nervy second leg semi-final against Barnsley, Steve Cooper’s Swansea team extended their first leg lead when Matt Grimes' sparkling goal put Swansea 2-0 up in the tie, but Barnsley replied through Cauley Woodrow's sharp finish in the 71st minute. Valerien Ismael's team then piled pressure on as they looked to force the contest to extra time but they couldn’t get through a resolute Swansea defence where Mark Guehi yet again outstanding. Three years after relegation from the Premier League, the Swans are are one game away from rejoining the elite. Earlier in the day, Brentford, beaten by Fulham in last season's play-off final, came from 2-0 down on aggregate against 10-man Bournemouth after an emotionally charged and high-energy second leg. Marcus Forss scored the decisive goal 10 minutes from time to seal a 3-2 aggregate victory for the Bees. "I told the players I needed a top performance from them and if we delivered that, I had no doubt we would get through to the final," Frank said in his usual modest way after the match. "I also asked for a top performance from the crowd and they definitely delivered on theirs.” - indeed,Frank himself ran around the 4 sides of the pitch before kick off trying to ‘whip-up’ Bees’ supporters. Both matches in the regular season ended in 1-1 draws, with the Swans the better side at Brentford and Brentford the better side at the Liberty. Turning to Saturday, Brentford will undoubtedly be firm favourites with bookmakers and with most football pundits. In some respects, the game pits Brentford’s strong attack against the Swans’ strong defence. As such, it could be a case of whether the Swans’ defence can stand firm and hope to pinch a goal on the break. In both matches this season, Brentford have taken the lead with the Swans managing to claw a goal back. So it would be interesting to see what would happen if Cooper’s men take the lead: how would Brentford react after last year’s play off heartache? My heart says 1-0 to the Swans but my head says 3-1 to Brentford. Here’s hoping that my heart is right
I just hate Brentford. Would be delighted to see them fail again more so than the Swans get promoted - just means a miserable season of getting hammered if we win with the added 'bonus' of more money for the owners.
.... or the Yanks take the opportunity to sell ASAP: it may be the (only) time to sell and make a profit. Relegation next year would see the value plummet again
They'd need to sell quick sharp though as if it looks like relegation is nailed on after 10 games then potential buyers would want to pay the lower value anyway.
Thanks as always Taff. Brentford are odds on favourites but my gut feel is they would rather be playing one of the other two teams in the final. We will be well organised which will mean we will have limited chances. If we can take one or two of those by moments of class as we did against Barnsley then who knows. I think Brentford will win it 2-1 but I would love it I’d we sneaked a 1-0
Thanks for your writeups throughout the season Taff. Enjoyed reading each and everyone of them. No doubt about it......2-1 Swans
Thanks for your excellent pre matches this season Taff....both games against Barnsley were anti football and we coped very well...The Bees will play football which will suit us I believe. Kev Johns will probably do his speech to gee the handful of lucky fans on and hopefully now our players know how clos3 they are to the promised land and it’s riches. As long. Kas we turn up I can see a win for the Swans
I waited until this moment to thank you for all your wonderful match day threads Taff, as I knew the final would be your last one As has been said, Brentford will be big favourites but it's now just a one-off game, so anything is possible. Brentford will be hugely over confident as well, despite what is said in front of the cameras. Also, we've played poorly toward the end of the season and by the law of averages we're due a wonder performance Should be fairly tight no matter what, so it's a Swans win in extra time, 3 - 1 (1 -1).
Actually... what I'd really like to happen is we equalise in the last minute of injury time in normal play and Frank starts shaking with anger. Then we score the winner in the last seconds of injury time in extra time and Frank has a breakdown live on air.
Another excellent write up Taff, glad you got to do this one. Would be nice to have PL badge for next seasons write ups. It’s going to be a tough game, they are very good in attack and we’re good in defence. I’m going with my heart, Swans 2-1, with Ayew scoring a pen in the 95th minute after Connor falling over a blade of grass. then giving Frank the shhhhhhhhhh
The game will be played in a stadium with a capacity of 90,000 with just 10,000 spectators present due to the current government guidance and more than 20% of those tickets go to corporate guests and guests of the EFL which makes the reduced capacity doubly hard to bear. There is no easy solution for either the Swans or Brentford who have taken very different routes on their ticket allocation but ultimately will both end in a position where they know that many fans who would want to be in attendance miss out because of the low ticket numbers. Brentford in particular were hugely critical of the decision particularly when you factor in that more than 20,000 people attending the FA Cup final last weekend at the same venue and the FA wanted to host the Champions League final next Saturday with a similar sized crowd which does beg the question why the restrictions could not change for a weekend which traditionally is the biggest in the football league calendar. A statement on the Brentford official website was clear in their view as they posted details of how their fans could get hold of tickets and it read “In line with the Government’s current Covid-19 restrictions, Wembley will have a maximum 10,000 capacity for this match. This means there will be fewer than 4,000 General Admission tickets allocated to each finalist. “We have been in communication with the FA and the EFL to find ways to maximise the Club’s allocation and we are extremely disappointed with this outcome. We at the Club feel it is unjust that only one week ago, more than 20,000 fans were admitted to The FA Cup Final and advanced discussions were taking place for Wembley to host the Champions League final with a similar number of fans attending. “We find it incredulous and unjustifiable just two weeks later, the Championship Play-Off Final will be restricted to just half of that number. The 12 Sky Bet Play-Off Semi Finalists wrote to the EFL and FA last week pleading for an increased capacity, but to no avail. We want all Bees fans to be at the Final and it is disappointing that so many of you who would want to be there, will not be able to attend.” It will be doubly painful for Brentford who have reached their second successive final with the last one played behind closed doors and clearly they have joined forces with everyone to try and get the decision overturned and it will always be disappointing that it will not be the case. There is some hope of additional tickets though as Brentford also confirmed “Discussions are currently taking place with the EFL to make approximately 750 more tickets available to the finalists. If the Clubs are able to secure these additional tickets, we will provide our fans with further information on how to apply for these tickets early this week, it is likely these tickets will go into a ballot.”
“ jayster999 Member 20 minutes ago #2 3-0. Batter the sheep shagging c**** please log in to view this image 1889 Member 18 minutes ago #3 2-0 Toney and Mbeumo please log in to view this image A A Real Mysteron Active member 17 minutes ago #4 Lets be like the Thomas. Confident, but humble. 5-0. “ A selection of the predictions from the Brentford Forum .....
Newport bring on a 42 year old - the oldest player to ever play in the Play Offs: he’s now the oldest ever goal scorer in the Play Offs 3-3 with 20 minutes to go
