Dean Smith felt it was a thoroughly deserved three points for his side after a Scott Hogan brace sunk Brighton and Hove Albion at The AMEX Stadium this afternoon. The striker struck either side of half-time as The Bees became the first side to take points off The Seagulls at home this season. Speaking after the match, Dean said he felt Brentford were excellent defensively and could have won by a wider margin.
“Without the ball we were excellent and we restricted a good team to few chances,” said Dean to Bees Player post-match. “Our pressing was excellent and we never gave them any time on the ball. Our defensive shape was very good and it has to be when you come to places like this. We felt that if you gave them time on the ball and just defended your area then you are asking for trouble. We didn’t want them to do that so we changed the system a little bit and went 4-1-4-1. We got Romaine Sawyers and Nico Yennaris higher up the pitch and I thought their pressing was excellent. We felt that it they played a high line we would be able to get in behind them and it worked very well with Scott Hogan. Our execution in the first-half probably wasn’t as good as the timing on the runs but in the second-half we created a number of chances.”
The Bees were forced into a change at left-back at half-time as Callum Elder limped off to be replaced by Andreas Bjelland. Dean said it was too early to know how long Callum might be out for but felt that Andreas was a more than adequate replacement.
“It's too early to say about Callum Elder but it looks like he has just opened up his knee,” said Dean. “He was in a bit of pain and he felt that the knee was going a little lax. We will have to wait until the medical team have a look to see what is wrong then. Andreas Bjelland has come on, showed great composure and it shows what an excellent footballer he is. He won’t come up against too many better players than Anthony Knockaert today.”
The win moved Brentford up into seventh place ahead of a trip to Aston Villa on Wednesday. Dean believes that if his side can perform to the same level as today at Villa Park they have a great chance of sending the away fans home happy again.
“If we put in a performance like that on Wednesday I am sure we will come away with the win,” said Dean. “We can take a lot of confidence from today because Brighton are one of the top teams in the league. We need to recover, get rested, and then get ready for another tough game at Aston Villa. There has been great support from the fans. We knew two weeks ago that we weren’t very good against Sheffield Wednesday in the first-half and we proved today that we can compete against some of the bigger teams in this league.”