Dean Smith felt his side deserved to be beaten as Fulham ended an 18 year wait for a league win at Griffin Park after a 2-0 success this evening. The Bees were sluggish from the start and were punished when Sone Aluko bundled home from close range ten minutes before the break. It was a better second-half showing from Dean’s side but they couldn’t find a way back into the game before Tom Cairney wrapped up the points on the counter in injury time. Speaking to Bees Player after the match, Dean felt too many of his team had an off-night tonight, something he said you can’t afford to do at this level.
“It is a low tonight but that is Championship football: if you are not at your best then you get beat,” said Dean. “We weren’t at our best in the first-half and they were better than us. Too many players played below average and you can’t afford to do that at this level. I spoke before the game about how good they were last week against Huddersfield Town. They have got players that we couldn’t afford but we still feel we should have been more competitive and a lot better than we were. The first goal at this level is massive and it certainly gave them a lift when they scored it. For us, when you are not playing well, you have to stay together. I felt we became a little bit too open and did things on our own which isn’t like us.”
Dean named an unchanged side from last Friday’s impressive 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers but The Bees didn’t carry the same fluidity or attacking threat they did at Loftus Road seven days ago. Josh Clarke came closest for The Bees, forcing two fine saves out of David Button in an improved second-half display but Dean felt the damage had already been done by then.
“We expected them to press us and they came and did that but we played in front of them,” said Dean. “Our centre midfielders, who were so productive on the ball last week, never got on the ball behind their centre midfielders. That gave us a problem as we were stuck in our half and the only out ball that we had was a long ball for Scott Hogan when he was two v one which was always going to be difficult. I changed Josh after an hour and put Romaine Sawyers in there and we started to get a lot more momentum and ball in their half. We created some chances but didn’t take them. Goals change games and had Josh Clarke taken his then who knows. There were a couple of goalmouth scrambles as well but at the end of the day we threw caution to the wind and had four forwards on the pitch at the end. While the second goal is disappointing, we were trying to get back into the game. For me it was the first-half that killed the game.”
Tonight’s result leaves Brentford 11th in the table, two points outside the top six, before the rest of the league plays this weekend. Dean feels that a place in mid-table is where his team should be right now given their performances but admits that their sights are set higher up the table.
“We are a mid-table team at the moment who want to push higher,” said Dean. “I told the players in there that, as individuals, they have to make sure that day to day they are doing everything they can to get better. On the training ground they have to make sure that they are doing everything they can to get better. If we do that individually then, bit by bit, the collective with come and we will be better.”