Dean Smith gave his reaction to the 3-1 win over Preston North End at Deepdale.
“It’s a great result for us,” said Dean. “Throughout the week they’ve been excellent in training and they followed it up today. It could have been a little more comfortable, we had to weather the storm for a while. We switched off for their goal after scoring, which was disappointing, but they’ve got some good players here. We’ll get better at managing games because David Button’s pulled off one hell of a save to keep it at 2-1 and then we went up the other end, made it 3-1, and won the game.”
Alan Judge scored the second goal Dean reaffirmed his desire to have the Irishman as part of his long term plans.
“We want to keep him at the football club,” said Dean. “The players love him, the staff like him and really enjoy what he’s about and he showed that today with his performance. People can talk about the speculation off the pitch but he lets his talking be done on the football pitch. He’s doing really well at the moment and is a valuable asset to us.”
The Bees boss did not rule out a return for defender James Tarkowski, who was again absent from the squad today.
“I’ve said before I like James as a lad,” said Dean. “He’s likeable round the place, the dressing room and the staff room. He’s made a decision that didn’t go down well. We feel it’s a mistake, he’ll have his reasons and I’m sure he’ll explain his reasons. What we can’t do is forget that he’s a young lad and I think everyone will look back and say they’ve made mistakes, or make decisions that could have probably been handled better. We know what a good player he is for this football club when he’s on song and we don’t want to lose him.”
Dean confirmed that long-serving midfielder Toumani Diagouraga is shortly expected to complete a transfer to Leeds United.
“It was an offer that the football club or Toumani couldn’t refuse,” said Dean. “He looked like he wanted to get away. We thought it might be Rangers but Leeds United have come up with the funds and he’s signed his deal and I think it’s just getting the medical out of the way.”
You can watch the full interview with Dean below: