Bees boss Rosler hurt by Trophy exit

Brentford manager Uwe Rosler has spoken of his bitter disappointment following his team’s defeat on penalties against Barnet in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

Tuesday night’s loss at Underhill crushed Brentford’s hopes of returning to Wembley in the competition they lost in the final of last season.

Rosler has never been to the home of football as a player or manager despite his spells with Manchester City and Southampton.

“This was a big chance for us to go Wembley,” Rosler said. “Most people don’t get the chance to go there in their lifetime. I’ve never been there and I was desperate to go there.

“I feel hard done by. We had many more chances than Barnet and it should have been over after the first 15 or 20 minutes.

“We had eight, nine or 10 chances to score but that’s where our problem lies at the moment – you have to score in your best periods.

“When you don’t finish it in 90 minutes you run the risk of going out. I felt, with our experience, we had a great chance in the penalties, but we missed one.”

Rosler’s dream of leading the Bees onto the hallowed turf is not over despite them being out of all three cup competitions.

Brentford are only two points outside the play-off zone in League One and could yet end up at Wembley for a place in the Championship.

Rosler added: “We want to make the next step but we are changing personally, and the style of play, and we want to improve our position from the past two years, so top 10 is our first priority.

“But we are very ambitious and want to hang in there and see how far we come. If it comes to February-March and we are within touching distance of the play-offs, we will welcome the situation and we’ll go for it.”

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