Ryan Woods felt that The Bees put in a solid performance during this evening’s 0-0 Sky Bet Championship draw at home to Norwich City. Neither side created much in the way of clear cut goal-scoring opportunities, although the best of the chances that did come fell to the visitors. Ryan, who picked up the Sky Sports Man of the Match award for his performance, was pleased with his individual display and felt The Bees performance showed a lot of grit and resolve.

Speaking to Bees Player after the match, Ryan said: “It was an even game but maybe they had a little bit more of the ball than we did. It was about making it difficult for them tonight and we were very solid. We did the other side of the game very well tonight. That is something that I am working on and I think I did very well up against Alex Pritchard. He is a very good player as everyone knows from his time here and I thought I did alright tonight. It is something that you take on now. I will be looking to improve again and keep putting more of those performances in.”

The last time the two sides met, earlier this month, it was The Canaries who ran out 5-0 winners in East Anglia. Ryan felt it was important tonight to show Norwich, and the watching public, that The Bees had moved on and learned from that disappointing afternoon at Carrow Road.

“I thought that after what happened at their place earlier on this month we had to make it really difficult for them and I thought we did that tonight,” said Ryan. “With the sending off at the end I thought that we could have nicked it as well. We tried to not let it affect us but today was one of those games where we had to make a point. We showed them what we were about tonight rather than the performance we put in at their place. We used that Norwich game as a kick up the bum. We have only lost one in five and we were unfortunate to lose that one as well. We are definitely more difficult to beat. Now it is about the other side and making sure that we control games and win them.”

There’s no rest for Ryan or his teammates with a trip to St Andrew’s to take on Birmingham City less than 48 hours away. The 23-year-old, who was brought up just outside Birmingham, admits that this is a physically demanding stage of the season with games coming thick and fast. However, Ryan is very much looking forward to heading back to the Midlands hoping to gain revenge for Birmingham’s win at Griffin Park in November.

“It is the time of year where it is very quick turnover,” said Ryan. “I am sure all the lads will enjoy themselves tonight but we will also be professional to make sure that we are ready for Birmingham. This league is always a demand physically and mentally but once you have had a few seasons in it, like I have, you get used to it. It is all about being professional now and making sure that we do the right things to be ready for Birmingham. I will have a lot of people there watching me just like the Aston Villa game which will be nice. Hopefully I can put in another good performance. I thought we were really unfortunate against them here. I thought that we controlled the game and were really unfortunate not to win. We will be looking to make sure we get the three points this time round.”