Former Brentford loanee George Saville has pinpointed the game that changed the club's 2013/14 promotion-winning season in the latest edition of the On the Rise.
Having struggled to get up to speed with League One football at the start of his Bees career - which wasn't helped by the club's poor form in the opening 11 games - Saville's stunning strike against Colchester United was enough to secure a 3-1 win and, after that, he says the west Londoners 'didn't look back'.
He explains: “I had a good pre-season, but the friendlies were very much like academy games where you have the ball, we have the ball; it’s tidy, it’s neat, it’s easy. We played a few games and I thought to myself, ‘F**k, this is really hard’.
“It was really physical, the ball wasn’t always on the floor, and it was hard to get into games sometimes, so I lost my confidence a little bit. I just wondered what I was doing. We were in a bad place and then we lost to Stevenage and we were in the changing room for ages afterwards!
“In the week that followed, I think there was a feeling that the manager could lose his job. The next game we played Colchester and won 3-1. I scored my first goal that day - against Sam Walker, who I’d grown up with at Chelsea - and that turned the game in our favour. It lifted the mood, my self-doubt just went out the window and, as a team, we just didn’t look back after that.
“Confidence in football is massive. Even now in the Championship, I’d say 16-18 clubs are all very similar, with similar players - but if you’ve got confidence, you’re not afraid of anyone. You go out there, you play and don’t think anything. As soon as you start losing a few, you start thinking about your first touch and things like that.
“Winning is the most important thing for confidence, for me, because you just don’t think. Long term, though, you need a good style of play and to be a good team as well.”
Saville states that the Bees had that under boss Uwe Rösler (continued by his replacement Mark Warburton for the second half of that season), and praises the German as 'perfect' for him, before lauding the dressing room as 'one of the best'.
Saville adds: “Looking back now, Uwe was perfect for me because he was a very good coach and everything I needed, but he was strict as well. He was firm and there was discipline, but we had a good relationship and he really helped me.
“He used to make us wear shinpads in training but, during the winter, I wore tracksuit bottoms - and he knew what I was doing.
"As we went onto the pitch, we always shook his hand and said ‘Morning’ but, this particular time, he kicked me in the shin and said, “Go and get your f***ing shinpads! What do you think this is?” I knew he didn’t miss a trick and that stood us in good stead.
“The changing room, even to this day, is one of the best I’ve had in football. It was that good. When you’re winning, it makes things a lot better and it’s easier to say, but the lads - the proper men - were such good lads."
Read the rest of this interview in Saturday's match programme; available online and around Gtech Community Stadium for £3
Also inside your Brentford v West Ham programme
“After a frustrating few weeks, our results have begun to match our performances. The margins weren’t dropping our way for a while, but not one member of the group allowed their head to drop. This is a fantastic group of players and staff” - Head coach Thomas Frank shares his thoughts before the Hammers' visit to Gtech Community Stadium
Big Ben Burgess’ Big Match Preview
Roshane Thomas, West Ham correspondent for The Athletic, takes us inside the West Ham camp in Hot off the Press
The Nathan Caton Column
When deliberating Brentford’s best buys, Vitaly Janelt’s name will always come up - and for good reason. The Long Read with Janelt discusses how his move to the Bees came about, with quotes from Brentford technical director Lee Dykes on the details behind the deal who some describe as the shrewdest in the club's history
Angel Waruih discusses starting his Brentford journey as a trialist. Now, in his second season as a B team squad member, he is hoping to forge his own path to greater heights, following in the footsteps of former teammates who are playing first-team football
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