Dean Smith: Thoroughly-deserved victory for Brentford

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2018 by PA

Brentford boss Dean Smith was satisfied with his team’s performance as they remained five points adrift of the Championship play-offs with a 2-0 victory over relegation strugglers Burton.

Burton skipper Kyle McFadzean deflected an Ollie Watkins cross into his own net on the hour mark and victory was secured for the West Londoners when Watkins found the bottom corner of the net with a precise finish on 80 minutes.

“It was a hard-earned win and thoroughly deserved I felt,” said Smith. “We controlled the game for long periods, probably a bit sloppy in the final third with our final ball or our decision making but we scored from a set piece which is really pleasing and finished it off with a great finish from OIlie [Watkins] which is what we deserved today.”

The Bees returned to winning ways and now have three wins from four games to reignite their late push for a play-off spot and Smith feels that his side is in good form at the moment.

“We are playing well at the moment. We don’t think we deserved to lose the last game against Leeds but I think Burton are a much improved team from when we played them earlier in the season so we had to be good today and I thought our control of the football was good. Our passing and moving at times was very good.”

Burton are on a run of fourteen games without a win on home soil and Smith didn’t want to heap any more pressure on his side by emphasising that fact in the build up to the game.

“We didn’t really talk about it because you don’t want to be that team that comes and gets the loss against them. With our first-half superiority we felt we should have been in the lead but we hadn’t really worked their goalkeeper enough to deserve it.”

For Albion boss Nigel Clough it was another disappointing home defeat which he felt could have been so different.

“We were toe to toe with Brentford and there wasn’t a lot in the game and then you score an own goal and they get a soft second one and it changes the complexion of the game. I think it was only really in the last 10 minutes of the game that they really dominated. We caused Brentford a few problems tonight.”

Clough was slightly aggrieved that Brentford kept 11 men on the pitch after Brentford forward Neal Maupay escaped a second yellow card just before half time for a challenge on McFadzean.

“We have had players receive yellow cards for less than that this season. What he said to the referee when he got booked for dissent earlier is also a sending-off offence. If you swear at the referee it is a red card and we were told that at the start of the season.”