Harlee Dean said he knew Brentford had to win their npower League One game against Crawley Town.
The Bees picked up the three points in an incident packed game with a 2-1 win in Sussex.
Crawley defender Mark Connolly was sent off inside the first 50 seconds for a foul on Clayton Donaldson but the Brentford striker missed the penalty only to later double the visitors’ lead after Sam Saunders had scored the opener.
Adam Forshaw was sent off in the second half and Crawley pulled one back but Brentford did enough to win.
The Bees were one of only two teams in the top seven to pick up three points and climbed to fifth in the npower League One table.
Manager Uwe Rösler said after the match that he was disappointed with the performance and Harlee said he was pleased The Bees ground the win out.
“I think we can be pleased with the result,” said Harlee, speaking to Bees Player after the match.
“We have had a look at the other results in the league and it is a really good three points.
“I know the Manager is disappointed but I think we did really well in the first half.
“The second half wasn’t anywhere near good enough but we ground the result out.
“We have come to Crawley, where other teams have failed, and got three points.
“All we can do is take the positives from the win.
“We got the three points even though we weren’t at our best in the second half.
“We could have exploited the extra man in the first half more but went in 2-0 up, we were happy with that.
“We have got three points and are really pleased.
“A draw would not have been good enough; we need to get back on a winning run.”
Midfield player Adam Forshaw was sent off for two yellow cards.
The first was for a foul inside the first two minutes while the second was when referee Lee Collins adjudged he had dived.
Harlee said his team mate had definitely not dived and the red card should not have been awarded.
The defender said Manager Uwe Rösler had warned Brentford’s players the opposition would try to get the numbers evened up and they should not give them the opportunity.
Harlee was booked at the end of the first half when he reacted to an agricultural foul on him and said he played the second half differently.
“I don’t think Adam dived,” he said.
“I think the ref has looked to even it up.
“I made a mistake and got booked at the end of the first half.
“Adam was booked early on.
“The gaffer said they would try and get us sent off and we had to watch ourselves.
“It was an experience we had to deal with.
“I think Adam’s sending off was a soft one.
“There were a few tackles in the second half where normally I would have flown through, you have to have it in your mind and be experienced.
“You have to take your foot off the gas even if it means not winning the ball.”
Brentford are now four games unbeaten in npower League One and are up to fifth in the table.
Before that they had been 13 unbeaten but then lost two out of three to Tranmere Rovers and Yeovil Town.
They are just four points behind the leaders Doncaster Rovers and have a game in hand on all four teams above them.
“We had a long unbeaten run and then were beaten by Tranmere,” said Harlee.
“We are now four games unbeaten in the league again.
“We have had [a game against] Chelsea [in the FA Cup] in between but that was irrelevant.
“We are back on a roll again.
“We want to carry it on until the end of the season.
“It’s my first season, it’s our first season as a team and we have a chance of doing something.
“We had a chance last season but it wasn’t as realistic as this season.
“We all want to get promoted and we have a good enough squad.”
Bees Player subscribers can see a full post-match video interview with Harlee Dean here.