Brentford’s superb debut season back in the second tier of English football came to an end on Friday night as they were beaten in the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Semi-Final by Middlesbrough.
Trailing 2-1 after the First Leg in West London a week ago The Bees fell further behind as Lee Tomlin’s deflected shot beat David Button midway through the first-half.
Mark Warburton’s side went chasing the game in the second-half and were hit twice more as Kike and Albert Adomah scored after the break.
Speaking to Bees Player after the match Brentford goalkeeper Button said it was a very difficult defeat to take.
The 26-year-old goalkeeper gave full credit to the way that Middlesbrough nullified Brentford’s threat over the two games and said The Bees didn’t do enough to progress.
“We knew that the first goal was going to crucial tonight,” said David.
“Even going in at 1-0 at half-time we still believed that we could come back into it with the attacking quality we have on the pitch.
“They are good at what they do and we found them tough to break down.
“We had to go for it and it was a bit of an unfair reflection.
“Over the two legs we probably didn’t do enough of what we do well.
“We knew from the previous games that they would be very physical.
“We knew what to expect and that is their style of play.
“All credit to them and it has worked for them tonight.
“The first goal took a slight nick off Harlee Dean which took it away from me.
“It is just one of those things in football and we will deal with it and go again for next season.”
Trailing 1-0 at half-time Brentford came out and tried to take the game to Boro in the second-half but David admitted that the hosts’ second goal, scored ten minutes after the break, killed the game as a contest.
“At half-time the manager said, like he did before the match, that the next goal was going to be crucial,” said David.
“He emphasised we needed to get on the ball and keep the ball.
“The more we did that the more tired they would get and we would get chances.
“Once the second goal went in that knocked the stuffing out of us.”
Despite the obvious disappointment of defeat on Friday night David said it was a season that the team could be proud of.
In their first season back in the second tier since 1992/93 The Bees finished fifth, their highest league position since 1947.
Having been written off by so many at the start of the season David said it was great to prove so many people wrong.
“We are all gutted at the result,” said David.
“Everything went against us tonight.
“It is a tough one to take but I am sure that given a few days we will look back on the season as a positive.
“That was nice at the end from the Middlesbrough fans.
“We have surprised a lot of people this season except ourselves.
“We knew how good we were going into the season and on reflection the season as a whole has been a fairly positive one.”