Thomas Frank was left scratching his head, wondering how his Brentford side emerged from their Championship opener empty-handed after they dominated in their 1-0 loss to Birmingham.

The Bees burst out of the blocks, creating a series of gilt-edged chances in the first 45 minutes and hitting the woodwork on three occasions, before Kristian Pederson looped a header over debutant keeper David Raya with what would be the decisive contribution 19 minutes in.

But Frank, looking to guide Brentford to a promotion push after an 11th-placed finish last season, resolved to take the positives from the performance rather than curse his team’s luck.

“It was one of the most one-sided games I’ve ever seen, in the first-half,” he said.

“We did so many things right, created so many chances and they had one shot on target, which was a goal.

“First half, I’m very pleased: the stadium was buzzing, everything was set for the start we were dreaming about.

“Then second half, we should have done better, played quicker, less touches – that’s the disappointing part, but I must say that first half is bang on.

“We need to continue down that route. I think we had six massive chances and they had one lucky punch.

“I would be much more concerned if we put in a bad performance, but if we keep a performance like the first half, then we will be performing very well and competing very well in this league.”

Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Marcondes and Sergi Canos all went close in the pursuit of an opener but the breakthrough proved elusive throughout.

With 15 shots compared to the Blues’ solitary one, and star striker Neal Maupay absent as he nears a mooted Premier League move, questions may be asked about the potency of his forwards.

But Frank believes that the Bees did the hard part in breaking down a resolute Birmingham rearguard on multiple occasions.

“We actually created the massive chances that you need to create in a game like this,” he continued.

“They played a 5-4-1, which is very difficult to break down and we still did six times; in that sense we did well.

“We need more quality on the day – we need to look at ourselves in that perspective – but also, we know that if we play that game tomorrow in the same situation, we most likely will win.”