Mark Warburton hailed the character of his Brentford team as they bounced back from consecutive defeats to record a 3-1 win over high-flying AFC Bournemouth.
It was a dream start for The Bees as Jonathan Douglas put them ahead in the ninth minute at home to Eddie Howe’s side.
The Cherries, who could have returned to the summit of the Sky Bet Championship with a win, responded when Mark Pugh bundled home on the half hour.
Alex Pritchard put Brentford back in front with a 30 yard free-kick on the stroke of half-time and the points were wrapped up in second-half added time through Chris Long’s first goal for the club.
Speaking to Bees Player after the Mark praised his side’s reaction after successive defeats to Watford and Charlton Athletic.
The Bees manager felt his side were well worth the three points especially given the number of chances that were created in the second-half.
“It is a great game and I am looking forward to seeing that again in the morning,” said Mark.
“It was a magnificent reaction from an outstanding set of players and I can’t speak highly enough of them.
“They have had to put up with all the shenanigans and to play with that commitment, character and quality was outstanding.
“I though the game today was really good.
“I thought the game down at the Goldsands was really high quality.
“I am sure today for the people who came today they would have enjoyed the game.
“I thought they dominated possession in the second half.
“We had numerous chances with Jota going through, we hit the bar and the post.
“It was one of those days that, at 2-1, the margins are too fine.
“I was delighted for Chris Long to get that third goal because he put in a really good shift when he came on as did Jon Toral and Alan McCormack.
“They were two good sides today and I have a lot of respect for a very good Bournemouth team.
“You are always nervous when the margins are fine and you a playing against a very talented side.
“I have watched and admired the work that Eddie Howe and his staff have done with their players but likewise you look at the chances that we had.
“They came at us second-hand and we expected that.
“We spoke at half-time about needing to step up our intensity as to come out with the same intensity wouldn’t have worked.
“We had our width with Jota, Pritchard and Judge but they are a good team and kept their width too.
“They pressed and dominated and we had to defend hard and could catch them on the counter.
“In the first game we broke away for fun in the last half an hour.
“You saw today the number of chances that we had and on another day we would have scored two or three on the counter-attack.
“Jota hit the bar, we hit the post, Jota and Pritchard had other chances as did Andre Gray.
“I thought it was a really good game for the neutral but not as much for those with more of an interest in it.”
With Jake Bidwell serving the second of his three match suspension following his sending off against Watford Stuart Dallas was employed as left-back with Tony Craig and James Tarkowski playing a centre-half.
Mark thought it was important to pose questions of Eddie Howe’s team as an attacking unit rather than simply try and sit in against one of the division’s top scorers.
The Brentford manager was impressed with how Stuart stuck to his task and how he was supported by the rest of the defensive unit.
“Stuart Dallas learned quickly,” said Mark.
“He is a very talented and intelligent player.
“He can play on the left and on the right and he showed against Watford that he can cover two against one situations.
“He has really good defensive awareness and the thinking today was that if we sat deep and invited AFC Bournemouth on, who are a very talented team, it would have been foolhardy.
“The idea with Stuart was to push on and try and push them back with Alan Judge and Alex Pritchard rotating in front of them.
“Likewise we had pace on the right-hand side with Moses.
“It worked well and Stuart showed great resilience throughout the game.
“He was tired at the end and cramping up at the end but it was a magnificent display.
“We had Stuart Dallas, a right-footer, at left-back and we knew he would do a good job for us in a positive manner but I wanted to have a natural left-footer alongside him.
“When you have two right-footers playing on the left against a talented player like Matt Ritchie, or Ryan Fraser when he came on, then it would be a big demand and that was the thinking.
“There was no disrespect to any player and we don’t drop any player we just use our squad how we see fit.
“There may be another few changes for Tuesday’s game.”
Mark was able to welcome back Alan Judge and Alan McCormack to his match day squad for Saturday’s match.
With Lewis Macleod also nearing fitness Mark has almost a full fit squad to pick from ahead of a busy run of fixtures that sees four matches in the next 13 days.
The Brentford manager said it was great to be able to welcome the two Alan’s back into his squad ahead of the final 14 matches of the season.
Mark reiterated that no players were turned down by him or the coaching staff in the January transfer window but that the events of the last week were born out a desire to be honest.
“I have been called by a lot of people about this and all I ask is would any manager turn down talented players who would add value to their squad,” said Mark.
“We have now got 14 games to go and it was great to see Alan McCormack and Alan McCormack come back on the pitch and Lewis Macleod is training with us.
“It is about adding value and making sure we can add a consistency of performance.
“We are right in the mix and it would be disrespectful to this group of players to expect anything less than they produced today.
“Meetings were held and the key word for me is honesty.
“If you can’t give yourself the best chance of success then be honest at the outset.
“It is not fair to the owner, the club, the supporters, who were magnificent again today, or the players to kid people along.
“Alan Judge lasted an hour today and he didn’t want to come off.
“He needed to be taken off because he wouldn’t have wanted to come off.
“That is great to hear from a player who has infectious energy as well as his quality.
“It was great to welcome him back and I was really impressed with how he played and I am looking forward to his impact over the remaining 14 games.
“You have got to respect this group of players and the character, resilience and commitment they showed.
“All these words are used too regularly but today I had no doubts about them.
“They are hungry and they know what they want to achieve this season.
“There are 14 games left and now it is head down to be the best they can be.”