Kevin O’Connor was pleased with his side’s 3-2 victory over FC Porto U19s on Saturday afternoon in Valdevez, Portugal. The B Team Head Coach spoke to us after the match to reflect on the day and the tour as a whole.

Asked if he was happy with his day’s work he said: “Very much so, the two games out here have been fantastic, exactly what we needed.

“First half we were good, I thought we deserved to be in the lead. Second half we tired a little bit and we had to be a little bit more defensive, combined with decisions going against us.

“It seemed like everything was going against us but I thought the boys learned from the first game very well and went into the second game knowing to keep their discipline, and not let the referee affect them in a negative way.”

The Portuguese side asked at half-time for the footballs to be swapped out from the yellow mitre branded ones that Brentford supplied, to the white Nike footballs brought by Porto. Kevin was confused by this by nonetheless agreed.

“They asked to do that at half time,” he said. “I have no idea why because we offered them the chance to use our balls at the start of the game. We weren’t giving them any other reasons as to why they lost, so of course we changed balls. It was just one of those strange moments you come across.”

Despite the conditions in northern Portugal, Kevin was impressed by the squad’s intensity.

“Definitely,” he said. “I think two games in four days in this heat is hard. It was a real tough game against Braga, coming into this one again it was really tough.

“I thought we were really good for 45 minutes and then tired in the second half. I’m delighted with the attitude and that will to win. That’s the thing that really delighted me in the second half today.”

Overall Kevin was also pleased with the standard of the tour as a whole. He said: “It was very good and we would definitely come back here. We’ve had two fantastic games, so that it’s been very pleasing.”