Report and reaction: Brentford 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1 (5-4) | OneFootball

Brentford booked their place in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup with a penalty shoot-out victory over Sheffield Wednesday at Gtech Community Stadium.

Kevin Schade’s first goal of the season gave the Bees an early lead but Djedi Gassama’s second-half strike saw the tie end 1-1 after 90 minutes.

In the shoot-out, Brentford netted all five of their spot-kicks before Mark Flekken saved Liam Palmer’s effort to secure progression for the Bees.

Thomas Frank made five changes to the side that defeated Ipswich 4-3 in the Premier League on Saturday

Ben Mee and Jayden Meghoma came into the back four, with Mathias Jensen and Fábio Carvalho named in midfield and Schade selected in the front three.

Ethan Pinnock, Mads Roerslev, Mikkel Damsgaard and Yoane Wissa were amongst the substitutes while Christian Nørgaard was rested.

The Bees opened the scoring on 11 minutes with the first notable chance of the game.

Keane Lewis-Potter, fresh from his impressive display at the weekend, lifted the ball over the visiting defence for Schade. The forward raced into the box and saw his initial shot saved, however the ball rebounded off Wednesday defender Gabriel Otegbayo into the Germany international’s path, allowing him to tap into an empty net from close range to open his account for the campaign.

Lewis-Potter set about adding a goal to his assist two minutes later but, after receiving the ball and beating a man inside the area, his left-footed drive was blocked.

The former Hull man continued to threaten as he met Bryan Mbeumo’s in-swinging cross and directed it goalwards, but Wednesday keeper Pierce Charles acrobatically tipped the ball around the post.

Two chances in as many minutes followed midway through the half. Both fell the way of Carvalho, who dragged a shot wide from 25 yards before, moments later, seeing a well-struck effort blocked inside a busy penalty area.

Frank’s side had two further opportunities to double their advantage at the end of a dominant first half. Mbeumo burst past two defenders and saw a left-footed shot spilled before Dominic Iorfa hacked the ball clear.

The Bees’ top goalscorer found Mathias Jensen from a corner two minutes later, but the skipper for the night saw his volley from close to the penalty spot deflect wide.

Carvalho created an opening early in the second period as he spread the play to Mbeumo, who squared the ball across the box, but it was just out of the reach of Lewis-Potter.

Wednesday equalised with just under an hour played. Gassama intercepted Flekken’s throw midway inside Brentford’s half before drilling into the bottom corner from 25 yards.

That sparked the second half into life, with both sides looking to move ahead in the tie.

Palmer shot straight at Flekken from distance and Iké Ugbo dragged an effort wide for the Owls; those two chances sandwiching a low drive from Mbeumo at the other end that was parried.

As the game entered the final 10 minutes, Schade was denied by Charles in the Wednesday goal after being teed up inside the box.

Marvin Johnson’s piledriver was deflected over the top of the frame at the other end shortly afterwards.

Neither side could find a late winner as the game ended level.

Mbeumo, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard, Wissa and Vitaly Janelt all converted their penalties in the shoot-out before Flekken got down well to his right to deny Palmer from the spot and seal progression for the Bees.

Brentford: Flekken; Van den Berg, Collins, Mee, Meghoma (Roerslev 70); Janelt, Jensen (Damsgaard 66), Carvalho (Wissa 66); Lewis-Potter, Schade, Mbeumo

Subs not used: Valdimarsson, Pinnock, Yarmoliuk, Konak, Trevitt, Maghoma

Sheffield Wednesday: Charles; Iorfa (Bernard 60), Otegbayo, Fusire (Palmer 59); Lowe, Paterson, Ingelsson, Johnson; Musaba (Windass 69), Gassama (Smith 69); Ugbo (Lowe 68)

Subs not used: Hamer, Barrett, McNeill, Reed

Attendance: 16,701

Frank: Through to Carabao Cup quarter-final is 'fantastic feeling'

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank expressed his delight at the Bees progressing through to the next round of the Carabao Cup.

He stated: "I'm very, very happy that we are through, very happy. It's just a reminder that things are never easy! I hope the fans enjoyed the excitement - when you are on the right side of a penalty shootout, it's always a fantastic feeling.

"But I would have loved for us to kill the game off, 3-0, job done; I think we were on the trajectory to doing that in the first half. The first half was very good, but the only complaint was that we didn't score the 2-0 goal. We lacked 5 per cent urgency in the final moment.

"The second half, we started well again, we put them under pressure. And, then, out of nothing, boom, 1-1, momentum changed, Sheffield Wednesday worked very hard. Maybe we needed to reset, I never felt like we got on top of them.

"The good thing is, at the end of the game, we scored five top penalties, and it was a great save from Mark [Flekken]."

Flekken: I was really happy to make decisive save

Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken was pleased to have made up for his part in Sheffield Wednesday’s equaliser by saving the decisive spot-kick in a 5-4 penalty shoot-out victory in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Flekken’s throw was intercepted by Djeidi Gassama, who drove forward and drilled into the bottom corner to take the game to a shoot-out, with the Dutch shot-stopper then denying Liam Palmer from the spot to book the Bees’ place in the quarter-final.

He said: “After claiming that cross, I saw an opportunity to go quick and made the wrong choice, and then we all know what happened: he [Djeidi Gassama] hits it very well and puts it in and equalises.

“The moment where I made the mistake gave them the chance to equalise. They gained the momentum and all of a sudden, it was an open game. I am just very happy that I could turn it around at the end.

“After going into the wrong corner for the first two [penalties], I came closer after every pen. I was really happy to make that decisive save at the end.”