Thomas Frank watched his Brentford side take a further step towards promotion and celebrated in style - with a nice glass of wine.

Frank's side beat Preston 1-0 at Griffin Park on Wednesday evening, as an early Ollie Watkins strike cut the gap on second-placed West Bromwich Albion to just a solitary point in the table.

That extended the Bees’ flawless record since the Championship's resumption and the Brentford boss raised a glass to his resurgent group of players.

“Sometimes you forget to enjoy the moment,” Frank told Sky Sports. 

“What I’m thinking now is that I need to sit down with a glass of wine and think, ‘Wow, that is actually quite good’.

“We are in the play-offs, that’s a fact, so why not give it a go for direct promotion? We’re on a high. The only thing we can do is focus on the next game. 

“I’m looking at [Saturday’s meeting with] Stoke, seeing if we can win nine in a row. If we want to give it a shot, we need to win again on Saturday.

“We want more, of course we want to aim higher. Whatever is thrown at us, we are ready for it. That’s the beauty of this league.”

Watkins’ fourth-minute strike marked the striker’s 25th league goal of the season, overtaking Aleksandar Mitrović as the Championship’s top scorer after he drew a blank in Fulham’s goalless draw against West Brom on Tuesday.

Leeds currently remain at the summit of the table needing just four points from three games to secure promotion, but the race is on for the second automatic spot as the Bees cut the gap on Slaven Bilić's Baggies.

Brentford travel to Stoke before hosting Barnsley in their remaining two fixtures, while West Brom play Huddersfield before ending their campaign against Queens Park Rangers at the Hawthorns.

Frank knows the role of red-hot Watkins will be crucial in those fixtures and couldn’t speak highly enough of the man he calls the ‘beast’.

“I normally call him the beast,” he added. “He’s a remarkable player and person. He’s so dedicated. Of course, he wants to be top scorer, but that’s not his main aim.

“Overall he’s just improved massively as a player and also as part of the leading group. He’s driving the team. Look out there how hard he works – it’s a joy to have a striker like that.

“He’s one of the hardest, if not the hardest working offensive player in the league, and he’s also the top scorer. That’s not a bad combination.”