Bryan Mbeumo’s penalty-taking ability applauded by Brentford boss Thomas Frank

Thomas Frank hailed Bryan Mbeumo as the best penalty-taker in the Premier League after his retaken spot-kick set up Brentford’s 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace.

Mbeumo hit the post with his first attempt but was on the mark with a second in the 66th minute at Selhurst Park, awarded after a lengthy VAR check determined Eagles captain Marc Guehi had encroached.

Kevin Schade nodded in the Bees’ second goal but they were denied a clean sheet by Premier League debutant Romain Esse with five minutes remaining in normal time.

Frank said: “We had the (best penalty taker) before (Ivan Toney) and now we have a second one.

“(He has) very, very good mentality, composure and focus. I think it’s trusting the process, trusting his strategy, so he did exactly the same as he’s doing for every single penalty and he knows that’s what he needs to do in the future.

“Someone just told me maybe that will not ruin his perfect record, because he was taken back, so I’m very happy with that.”

Mbeumo’s reprieve means the Cameroon international remains one of just five Premier League players never to have missed from the spot, netting from all nine of his attempts.

The only better records belong to Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, with a perfect dozen, Yaya Toure with a faultless 11 and Raul Jimenez, who converted 10 from 10, while Dimitar Berbatov also had nine.

Frank anticipated in-form Palace would be a difficult test, and was delighted by the manner in which his side came out on top under the wet and windy conditions.

“It’s a big three points,” he added. “I said to the players before the game or during the week that this was, no one game defines the season, unless you’ve been in a play-off final. We did that twice.

“But I just knew we were going here to Selhurst Park, very difficult to play here, we haven’t won here (in a long time).

“(We won) against a very good team that I like and I admire a lot under very difficult circumstances.

“I think, except that goal, we gave more or less nothing away against a very tricky and good front three.

“So pleased with the good, solid away performance where I think it’s a fair win in the end.”

New Palace signing Esse scored moments into his Premier League debut when he tapped in the consolation from Daniel Munoz’s clipped pass.

The 19-year-old told Sky Sports: “First touch, first goal. It’s the start I would like to get off to and I’m just happy to have done it, but gutted about the result and hopefully we can fix it next week.”

Palace boss Oliver Glasner agreed with VAR’s decision to award Mbeumo a second chance, and was more irked by what he felt were four mistakes in the build-up to the penalty.

While Esse provided perhaps a taste of what Eagles fans might expect, the Austrian admitted it was difficult to fully celebrate the former Millwall winger’s accomplishment due to the disappointing result.

“We are all still disappointed,” added Glasner. “Even when Romain had a good start for us.

“And it will help getting confidence and getting integrated, but at the end we lost the game, so no one can be happy today, because it is always a team sport.”