Frank’s frustrations appear in the raw as plucky Wycombe hold Bees to 0-0

It was Gareth Ainsworth who was much the happier manager as the two best haircuts in the Championship accompanied the hairless referee Lee Mason off the field.

“I thought he had quite a good game actually,” quipped Ainsworth on being told by media that Brentford manager Thomas Frank had been been unhappy with the time Mason had or rather hadn’t added on.

Indeed Frank was not a photo of contentment as he did battle with the West London media in the bright lights at Adams Park. Bemoaning how long Ryan Allsop took over goal kicks was a main theme.

That he is troubled about something so trivial after playing Wycombe Wanderers suggests that there is something deeper irking Frank. Brentford were the best side in the division last year not to be promoted. He never expected to leave the field empty handed after playing the most underfunded side in this year’s division, and to feel the need to speak about slow goal kicks hampering his side’s chances.

His opposite number probably summed it up better:

“The energy that my boys put in…if my boys walk to take a throw-in, then they’ll walk to take a throw-in to get their breath back.

“It’s not deliberate, we never work on it, if it is upsetting people, then too bad. We’re happy, it’s in the referee’s hands and I thought the referee refereed the game really well today.

“People would be frustrated to be fair when they don’t beat Wycombe and I say that in a respectful way.”

It is easy to feel sympathy for Frank. ‘Frustration at not beating Wycombe’ probably does not sum up his universe.

Discussions about timewasting continued after the final whistle

He was so close to being a Danish Marcelo Bielsa, swashbuckling his way through post-match interviews on Sky’s EPL coverage.

But it’s not just the angst of coming so close as 2019/20 drew to a close that must haunt him.

They have a superb new stadium but the COVID virus is stopping them doing what everyone at Brentford must strain for; to play in front of their fans there.

The club just seems to be treading water until that promise land arrives.

But the league schedule is not on hold.

The Bees have now played 12 games without coming close to last season’s excellence and they were some distance from it at Wycombe. It’s true that Frank is only five points from a play-off place and six off automatic promotion, and they are still bedding in new players like Ivan Toney but explaining a 0-0 draw at a deserted Adams Park, is so far from how Frank must have imagined his year not long ago.

His gesticulatory arguing with Mason was saddening but there was no such tension in Ainsworth’s post match posture.

Gareth Ainsworth was relatively content after his side’s pugnacious display against Brentford
Photo: Steve Clare

His side are in the drop zone but just one point behind Coventry who are not. Sheffield Wednesday’s pre-season penalty being cut to six is a nuisance but Ainsworth can have some confidence that new arrival Garath McCleary  might make a serious difference to his side’s hitherto lack of creativity.

More comforting in the short term will be the clean sheet kept by Ryan Allsop and some heroes in front of him. They restricted Brentford to one excellent on target effort that Allsop turned onto his post. It’s fair to say that had the Bees taken the lead, it’s doubtful Wycombe would have leveled and taken it off them.

But Allsop’s save preserved parity and everything else he did was of the level that you’d expect a keeper to make at this level, including one leg save where his positioning was outstanding. They could have even pressed for a winner but a late injury to David Wheeler disrupted Ainsworth’s plans for the closing act and he had to keep the tiring Adebayo Akinfenwa on the pitch to play a full 90 minutes, which had not been his plan.

Tomorrow they have a chance to turn that progress into more points when mid table Huddersfield visit. It looks like one of those games when Ainsworth’s frustration levels may be tested if all his men’s laudable efforts do not yield a goal and a win.

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