Thomas Frank hopes for 'world record' as he hails 'unbelievably fantastic' Brentford progress

Thomas Frank has claimed that what Brentford continue to achieve as a club is “unbelievably fantastic” and said he hopes his side's first-minute goals in three straight Premier League games is a world record.

The Bees remain in 12th place in the Premier League table after Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with West Ham.

Brentford have one of the lowest budgets in the top-flight and are in their fourth successive season as a Premier League club despite having previously not been in the first division since 1947.

Bees head coach Frank said of his side’s draw against the Hammers: “I think overall we were the better team, except for 15 minutes in the second half.

“They outmuscled us the first 15 minutes of the second half, but besides that I thought we were on top. We pushed for that 2-1 goal in the second half, without having the cutting edge.

“We were missing nine first-team players, where six of them - Christian Norgaard, Mathias Jensen, Igor Thiago, Yoane Wissa, Aaron Hickey and Rico Henry - you could argue would start for us.

“Then we lost Kevin Schade after 65 minutes with cramp - that meant we basically had nothing to shoot with and had to go for defensive subs.

“They were putting on [Crysencio] Summerville, a Greek international [Konstantinos Mavropanos], a Spanish international [Carlos Soler]. And they have a huge budget.

“I’m never happy when we don’t win, but [putting] all that into context, that’s just a huge credit to the players. What we do is unbelievably fantastic.”

Brentford scored 22 seconds into their 2-1 defeat at Manchester City a fortnight ago and then struck after 23 seconds in last weekend’s 3-1 loss at Tottenham. They followed that up with Bryan Mbeumo’s 37-second goal against West Ham.

“It’s crazy”, Frank said. “I know it’s a Premier League record, but there are other leagues in the world. I need to know it’s a world record.

“Of course, there is planning to it. We have a kick-off strategy, so that’s one thing. And then as a philosophy, we like to be positive. I want to put credit to the coaching staff that work on it and the players.”