Brentford head coach Thomas Frank wanted to go far in the Carabao Cup but congratulated Gillingham boss Neil Harris for knocking his team out.

The Gills are now in the last 16 of the competition following their surprise win at the Gtech Community Stadium. Frank named a strong team to face the Gills but his men couldn’t build on an early 1-0 lead and Harris’ side fought back, equalising and then winning the tie on penalties.

Danish coach Frank, who enjoyed tussles with Harris during their management days in the Championship, said: “I congratulate Gillingham, well done by them, of course I would have loved to win, there was no doubt about that with the team I put out there, that was the purpose.”

Frank kept the same matchday squad that had played Nottingham Forest in the Premier League in their previous match for the cup tie against Gillingham. The only addition was that of Ivan Toney, suspended at the weekend but desperate for minutes to earn a place in England’s World Cup squad.

“Well done to Gillingham,” said Brentford’s sporting boss. “They were very difficult to break down, playing 6-3-1, they did their job very well, took the chance they got and were spotless in the penalty shootout.

“You could see how much it meant to the fans. If you need to lose it is a little bit better to lose to a good friend of mine and colleague in Neil Harris. He is doing a good job there, so well done to Gillingham.”

Frank said his team “played too slow,” against the Gills.

He said: “No matter how difficult it is to break a low block down we need to play quicker and I think we needed to produce more crosses and attack with more players in the box.

“It is very frustrating, we wanted to go far. This is why we love cup football, this is why there are so many stories, this is the beauty of it, a little more for Gillingham and hopefully they will enjoy it. We will learn from this, we will feel down.”

Brentford had a healthy contingent of Danish players on the pitch against the Gills.

Christian Norgaard was one of them and said he was “a bit speechless” about the result, adding: “I'm really sad that we're not through to the next round.”

Both he and Mathias Jensen - who came off the bench against the Gills - have been selected to represent Denmark in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which gets under way later this month.

"I’m sad about the performance that the crowd had to witness, they showed up in big numbers, expecting a good game from our side and they just didn't get it.

“I know cup football can be tough sometimes and it's not the first surprise in history, but it's definitely not good enough and we have to analyse it and make it better.”

Frank’s decision to name a strong side didn’t surprise his mate Harris.

“I knew Thomas would have the utmost respect for me and the group,” said the Gills boss.

“When I saw the team I was probably surprised how strong it was, then you fear, you go behind after three minutes, as a manager you maybe fear what’s infront of you.

“But as players you want to play against the best players, some of my players might never play against a Premier League opponent again, or a Premier League player. When you do get opportunities like this then you do want to play against the best."