Yoann Barbet believes he is back in contention for a first-team spot after coming through last night’s B Team win over Liverpool at Griffin Park. The 23-year-old had been absent for the last six weeks after picking up an ankle injury in pre-season but played 90 minutes for Flemming Pedersen’s side on Thursday before telling Bees Player he felt ready to be included in Dean Smith’s plans.

“It was nice to be back out on the pitch and playing 90 minutes against a good team,” said Yoann, speaking after the match. “I didn’t play for more than a month so I needed some minutes in my legs before I went back into the first-team. I was happy to play and I didn’t feel anything with my ankle which is good. I have had a few weeks working with the physios but after getting 90 minutes I feel like I can be involved with the first-team. It is not me who decides, it is the manager, but I just tried to give 100 per cent for 90 minutes to make sure that I am fit.”

Yoann’s absence has co-incided with the return to fitness of Andreas Bjelland and the good form of the current central defensive pairing of John Egan and Harlee Dean. With four defenders fighting for two spots, Yoann feels that can only bring the best out of everyone and be a benefit to the team.

“It is good because it makes you challenge yourself,” said Yoann. “You need to be strong every day and show to the manager that you can play instead of someone else. All of the defenders have a good relationship so it is a good fight, it is not a war between us. It is a good challenge and it is nice to have good defenders next to me to push me to give a little bit more every day.”

Last night’s game saw The Bees surrender a two goal lead, given to them by Herson Alves and Danny Parish, to eventually win 5-4 on penalties against The Reds. Yoann, who scored the opening penalty in the shootout, said he was impressed with what he saw from the young Brentford players and felt they should have won the game in 90 minutes.

“I thought the B Team played really well,” said Yoann. “We tried to start from the back and we played well. We had some great chances and we should have won before penalties. The first goal killed us a little bit but we shouldn’t have reacted like that. Flemming told me that they were a good team but I didn’t expect them to be as good as they were tonight.”