Dean Smith is targeting victory over Ipswich Town on Saturday to get the new Sky Bet Championship campaign up and running for his side. The Bees followed up a 2-1 reversal at Huddersfield Town last Saturday with a First Round EFL Cup exit on Tuesday night at Exeter City. Now, ahead of the visit of Ipswich Town to Griffin Park this weekend, Dean wants his side to learn the lessons from those two defeats and kickstart the new season with three points.

“There is no extra spice, it is just a game that we want to win,” said Dean, speaking to Bees Player ahead of the match. “We don’t want to go through the first week without a win and we want a better performance as well. A win gives you confidence and it gives you a start. We have to perform better than we did up at Huddersfield Town last week but I thought that we controlled the game on Tuesday but weren’t clinical enough or clever enough in the final third. That is something that we will be working on and getting ready for Saturday.”

After playing 120 minutes at St James Park on Tuesday night, Dean admitted that there were some very tired bodies on the coach journey back up the M5 post-match. However, despite his concerns The Bees Head Coach was buoyed by the return to training this morning of Maxime Colin, Andreas Bjelland, and Josh McEachran and is hopeful of welcoming at least one of that trio back into his squad for Saturday.

“There was a lot of ice going around on the coach on Tuesday night but I have a smile on my face today because there are a lot more bodies on the training ground which is good,” said Dean. “Maxime Colin and Andreas Bjelland have trained today and Josh McEachran is back in training. Emmanuel Ledesma and Ryan Woods both got dead legs but they are ones that they can run off and they will be fully in training tomorrow. We are still waiting to find out the diagnosis on Alan McCormack but it looks like a heel injury. Yoann Barbet’s ankle is still a little bit sore. Maxime is definitely available and Andreas is back in full training but it will be touch and go if he is available, as it will be for Yoann.”

There has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes at Griffin Park and Jersey Road in recent weeks as The Bees try to add to their squad before the end of the transfer window. Given the size of the clubs Brentford are competing against for players, Dean admitted it has been difficult at times but he is hopeful that new faces could be arriving very shortly.

“We have been looking for a long time as everybody knows but it does get tough,” said Dean. “There are reports out there that Premier League clubs want in excess of £1 million as a loan fee which just shows how difficult it is to get players in. It has to be the right fit for what we are about as a football club. We are thankful to Matthew for the finances that he puts into the club but the club also needs to try and become sustainable. To be paying the sums of money that is being asked for our there is beyond us. What we do is find players that we think we can develop and make better like we have done over the past few years. We are very close with a couple of players. Saturday might come too soon but the Directors of Football might have a little present for me in the meeting I have with them this afternoon.”