Brentford 4-2 Newcastle: Thomas Frank’s side overcome Magpies in six-goal thriller to climb into the top six

Who would have thought that the comfort of home could be so exciting? No warm slippers and a dressing gown by the fire when it comes to Brentford, who under Thomas Frank have made a habit of these stunning home victories that have put them into European contention.

Goals from Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa, Nathan Collins and Kevin Schade secured a sparkling 4-2 win over Newcastle to make it seven wins from eight at the Gtech Community Stadium and move them up to sixth in the Premier League.

Just think where Brentford could be if they hadn’t picked up just one point on the road all season.

They don’t do it gently here. A 5-3 win against Wolves earlier in the season, 4-3 against Ipswich, 3-2 against Bournemouth. With four shared goals at half-time it looked like it could be another match that would swing at the finest moments, but towards the end, with four in the bag and Newcastle deflated, cold and out of ideas, the home fans were able to enjoy what was left of the ride.

In fact it could have been five as Mbeumo took the ball miles from Nick Pope’s goal only to be denied by a late goalline clearance from Dan Burn.

“I think the character and intensity we played with was very impressive,” said Brentford head coach Frank. ‘To be able to keep scoring is unreal in a way, but I try to enjoy it. The amount Brentford have scored in the league, I don’t think any of us, including myself, understand how incredibly good that is.

Thomas Frank’s Brentford side are in sixth place and are now just four points behind Man City in fourth

Eddie Howe’s men are winless in four league games and are languishing in twelfth place in the table

‘I’m not too worried [about the way form]. I don’t think there’s much in it. I think there is always a coincidence. It was still a good performance overall. I think we were hit hard in some away games, but we have to keep improving.”

For Newcastle, how long ago has it been that ding-dong against Liverpool on Wednesday night and a premature referee whistle away from a victory over the leaders. That’s two points out of a possible twelve. Ten points from their last eleven games.

The Magpies have become far too easy to play against and the second half was so poor that manager Eddie Howe had to apologize to the fans, question the attitude of the players and wonder if Storm Darragh was playing its part.

“There was a willingness to win and a willingness to fight, but I don’t think it was strong enough,” Howe said.

‘I’m not making excuses, but I don’t know if the weather played a role because there was obviously a very strong wind today. I don’t know if that’s a coincidence, but we didn’t attack as well in the second half as we did in the first half.

‘I think today was a difficult match [as a substitute] due to the conditions and if you try to increase the speed of the game you will of course get cold.

“I would like to thank everyone who came today and I am truly sorry for what we delivered. I promise we will always work as hard as we can to make things right.”

There was a reason why Brentford and Newcastle were in mid-table just before kick-off, with just one goal separating them.

Alexander Isak drew Newcastle level after Mbeumo’s early goal for Brentford

Yoane Wissa gave Brentford the lead again after a mistake by Harvey Barnes

Barnes made up for his mistake by putting Newcastle back on level terms, but that was as good as it got for the Magpies

They can be exciting and frustrating in equal measure. Half smooth and lively and packed with quality, half sloppy and loose and unable to seize any kind of control.

And so it wasn’t surprising when they coughed up a first half packed with four goals that all told the same story.

Mbeumo plucked Christian Norgaard’s cross-field pass out of the air, cut inside onto his left foot, flew past Lewis Hall and blasted it into the left side of Nick Pope’s goal. A piece of quality.

Alexander Isak leveled three minutes later, getting ahead of Nathan Collins and nodding Jacob Murphy’s ball into the net for his fifth goal in his last seven league matches.

And yet it should have been six out of seven when Isak robbed the ball in the Brentford and raced clear on goal, surrounding Mark Fleken but taking so long to decide where he would prefer to roll the ball into the gaping net that he gave the goalkeeper the ordered him to get up, reach out and scoop it out from under Isaac’s feet.

If that was sloppy, it was nothing to Harvey Barnes handing Brentford their second. In the tired Anthony Gordon’s side, Barnes played a loose pass which was latched onto by Yoane Wissa, who cut in from the edge of the area.

Collins’ close-range finish gave Brentford the lead in the 56th minute and they never looked back

Wissa blew a kiss to the crowd in celebration, but should have aimed it in Barnes’ direction.

However, Barnes needed just four minutes to make amends for his mistake when he found himself unnoticed in the Brentford box and fired a second equalizer into the bottom corner.

From then on, as the second half got underway, Newcastle withered. A simple direct free-kick, taken just inside the Brentford half by Fleken, bounced over every Newcastle head and Collins happily poked it.

Newcastle huffed and puffed but created little and it was left to Mbeumo, as the clock ticked into injury time, to play on substitute Kevin Schade to poke it past Pope and put the game to bed.