Ivan Toney was on the scoresheet once again to help Brentford make a return to England’s top-flight for the first time in 74 years with a comfortable victory over 10-man Swansea City in front of 12,000 supporters at Wembley Stadium.
The Bees had lost in their last nine playoff campaigns but when Toney’s spot-kick gave them the lead after just 10 minutes, it always seemed likely that the club’s curse would be lifted. The Championship top goalscorer with 32 kept his nerve to slot home from the penalty spot after Swansea goalkeeper Freddie Woodman took out Bryan Mbeumo.
The excellent Emiliano Marcondes doubled Brentford’s lead just 10 minutes later with a cool finish to complete a textbook counter-attacking move and give Swansea a mountain to climb.
It could have been even worse for Steve Cooper’s side when Toney’s audacious volley from 30 yards looked to have beaten Woodman only for the ball to strike the underside of the crossbar.
Andre Ayew squandered a gilt-edged chance to halve the deficit when he missed the target with a header from just yards out moments after the restart. And Swansea’s day went from bad to worse as after a spell of pressure Jay Fulton was shown a straight red card for a clumsy and reckless challenge from behind on Mathias Jensen.
That completely killed Swansea’s hopes as Brentford made history to ease their way into the Premier League and spark celebrations amongst their supporters, most of whom will see their club play in the top-flight for the first time in August.