‘Immense pride’ for Andrews after Brentford almost secure European spot

Keith Andrews spoke of his pride in Brentford’s season after they narrowly missed out on a European place.

The Bees ended an excellent campaign with a 1-1 draw at Liverpool, where Kevin Schade’s header earned them a point.

But it was not enough to take the final Uefa Conference League spot and Andrews’ side finished ninth in the table, with Brighton pipping them on goal difference.

Andrews said: “We gave everything, it just wasn’t to be. But there’s immense pride at what we’ve produced. We went for it and we couldn’t quite get there.

“I’m very proud. If you’d have told me on July 1st that we’d go to Liverpool after taking four points off them, draw the game and lose out on goal difference, I’d have snapped your hand off.”

Brentford were widely tipped to struggle after Andrews stepped up from the role of set-piece coach to replace Thomas Frank as head coach following Frank’s departure for Tottenham.

Key players Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Christian Norgaard also moved on, but the team defied the odds.

“I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved after a summer of huge change, which normally creates uncertainty for clubs – history tells you that,” said Andrews.

“It’s the goodness, humility and hunger of the group that meant we were able to reinvent ourselves as a new team. We’ve had a season we should be very, very proud of.”