Brentford B forward Ethan Laidlaw said the young Bees can expect a “tough game” when they travel to face Rangers B on Monday afternoon (1.30pm kick-off).

Following a 4-1 win over Hitchin Town last time out, Neil MacFarlane’s side hit the road for Glasgow on Sunday as they prepare to face the Scottish club at their training ground.

It will be Laidlaw’s first game in Scotland since signing with Brentford B in July 2023, the youngster joining the young Bees after rising through the ranks at Hibernian.

“I grew up in Scotland, played pro-youth since I was about nine, 10 years old until I left when I was 18 and I played at Rangers a good few times," said Laidlaw.

"When you’re at the club that I was at, those are the games that you enjoy playing in because you’re up against it. They’re the kind of games you want to play in.

“We know it’ll be a tough game, Rangers will obviously be a really, really good side, so we’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

While the clash is a friendly, Laidlaw believes the young Bees can expect an attacking Rangers side come Monday afternoon.

“From what I know and from what I’ve seen, they’re a team that wants to play on the front foot. They’ll try win the game, they’re not going to sit back and respect us as a Premier League team because in their own rights they’re a pretty big club as well,” he continued.

“For us, we know that it’s going to be as tough a game as you’ll get and we’ve played some really tough games this season.”

March marks eight months since Laidlaw signed with Brentford B - the 19-year-old put pen to paper on a two-year deal with a club option of an additional year.

Moving over as an 18-year-old, he concedes there have been difficult moments acclimatising to life in west London, but the help of his coaches and team-mates, especially those also from Scotland, has helped.

“Obviously there was a settling in period," he admitted. "It’s the first time I’ve ever left Scotland. I thought I could just come here and everything would feel like it did back home, but obviously that’s not the case.

“That was made easier by being here because every day it’s what I love doing, it’s coming in and playing football, it’s not like any normal job.

“People here like Neil, Steven Pressley, Vinnie [Vincent Angelini] as well, it kind of gives you that comfort straight away.”

The forward has enjoyed a good season so far for MacFarlane’s side. He has regularly been named in match squads and has a handful of starts to his name.

He said a pre-season concussion halted his progress, but feels he has played at a good level in recent months.

“I did a lot of work in pre-season by myself to make sure wherever I went, I could hit the ground running straight away and that’s what happened,” said Laidlaw.

“We went to Spain for our first trip. I did really well against Real Betis and unfortunately got concussed, which kind of halted my progress a little bit.

“That was about two weeks without doing any football which is a bit frustrating. I saw a bit of a dip in everything performance-wise, fitness-wise, mood-wise.

“Over the last few months I’ve definitely kicked on - I think since the France trip I’ve done really well.

“I've just got to play well when I get the opportunity because there’s plenty of boys, especially in my position, who could play.”

With such a competitive squad and a handful of players ready to perform in Laidlaw’s position, the forward explained the standard expected of the players at Brentford is high, which he enjoys.

“If you do well you get rewarded, you get to play the next game. If you don’t do well then there’s consequences for that, you might not play the next game for example,” he said.

“Being out of my comfort zone and having to produce every day in training and every game is completely different to what I’ve been used to.

“Obviously I would have liked to start every game if I could, but the way the games programme is here, there’s a lot of rotation.

“You’ve obviously got boys who have been here a bit longer who are a bit older than me who play a good chunk, but if you speak to the staff, they tell you what you need to work on and they tell you how the games programme works.

“Hopefully until the end of the season I can play as many minutes as possible and then next year hopefully kick on and become one of our regulars.”