Fulham beat Brentford to make a return to Premier League
With so much at stake, the nerves for both sides were evident from the outset, but both teams settled into a groove and found chances in a first half that surprisingly ended scoreless.
Joe Bryan scored twice in extra time to lift Fulham past Brentford with a 2-1 win in the Championship playoff final and earn promotion back to the Premier League at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night.
It was more of the same in the second half, but once again neither team could create legitimate scoring chances, and the game headed to extra time.
Bryan then fooled Brentford’s David Raya, wrong-footing the goalkeeper from a free-kick to give Fulham the lead near the end of the first period of extra time.
The Spanish keeper was slow to react, once Bryan had opted to shoot, but the lead was a deserved one for Scott Parker’s side, who had the better of what had been a cagey 90 minutes.
With Brentford looking to level the score, Bryan struck again right before the end of the match, this time calmly slotting home past Raya after a nice give-and-go with Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Henrik Dalsgaard pulled a goal back for Brentford in the final seconds but there was no time for a recovery by the Bees, who were searching for a place in the top flight for the first time since 1947.
The result sees Fulham return to the Premier League after being relegated following the 2018-19 campaign, to join Leeds United and West Brom as the promoted teams from the Championship.
