Brentford defender Harlee Dean feels the club’s fans have a huge role to play in the destiny of this season’s Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Semi-Final.
The Bees make the trip to The Riverside on Friday to face Middlesbrough, trailing 2-1 after the first-leg following Fernando Amorebieta’s stoppage time goal.
Harlee and the team will be backed by around 2,000 fans on Teeside and the defender believes those fans have an important role to play in the tie.
“It was one of the best atmospheres that I have felt and been around on Friday night,” said Harlee, speaking to Bees Player ahead of the match.
“Everyone still believes and the most important thing for us is that we still believe we can get the win.
“We can’t turn up there and think that if we lose we have had a good season.
“We have to turn up there, win and then win the final because then it will be a good season.
“We need the fans to stick with us and be loud and confident.
“They can be that voice and the 12th man that we need.
“Our 2,000 fans can be loud and confidence is key.
“If we are all positive together and believe in one thing it will come true.”
Middlesbrough dominated the first-half of the first tie at Griffin Park and deserved to lead through a Jelle Vossen header.
After the break it was a very different story as Brentford mounted wave after wave of attack on the visitors’ goal, eventually finding a way through when Andre Gray slotted home.
In a frantic final 30 minutes both sides has chances to take the lead but it was Boro, through Amorebieta, who struck late on to take a slender advantage back up to the North East.
Harlee doesn’t feel that being behind in the tie will make a big difference to The Bees’ approach this Friday night and said that the way they played, especially in the second-half, will give them cause for optimism.
“It was a strange mood in the dressing room after last Friday,” said Harlee.
“We weren’t really too disheartened because we played well and we had the better chances, it was just unfortunate that we conceded in the last minute.
“It hasn’t really changed much because either way we were going up to Middlesbrough to win.
“If it was a draw we would have had to win the game and now that we are one goal behind we need to win the game.
“We can take a lot of positives from the performance and be optimistic about Friday.
“Although the first leg didn’t seem like an edgy affair because it was open and both sides were going for the win it is a two-legged game.
“Friday gives us a chance to go and overturn the deficit.
“We came a long way after the first game and then again after the second game and that showed on Friday.
“We dominated the ball and dominated possession and had a few clear cut chances.
“Going up there to a wider pitch will suit us more and we will have a better chance.
“Their chances mainly came from set-pieces.
“They isolated a few people and that is where they got their joy.
“That is something we will work on this week.
“They are a good defensive unit so we need to make sure that we break them down and don’t concede.
“They are our only target and our only problem at the minute so we can concentrate on them and everything about them.
“We have to turn up on Friday and make sure that we play as well as we did Friday just gone and make sure we have get a win.”
Harlee is one of a number of Brentford players who has experienced both ranges of promotion emotion with The Bees
The defender scored Brentford’s goal as they were beaten 2-1 in the 2013 League One Play-Off final at Wembley as part of a team that included current players Jake Bidwell, Tony Craig, Jonathan Douglas and Toumani Diagouraga.
Last season Harlee made 33 appeareances as Brentford achieved promotion from Sky Bet League One behind Champions Wolverhampton Wanderers.
For Harlee that promotion experience, both good and bad, will help The Bees of Friday even if the stakes are much higher this time round.
“The games are getting bigger as we go on,” said Harlee.
“If we win then we are in the final and then we are 90 minutes away from Premier League.
“It doesn’t get much bigger than that.
“This Friday is bigger than last Friday so we need to step up to the occasion and get the right result.
“That previous experience does help but it is a completely different ball-game now.
“It is a different level and a different team.
“No disrespect to League One but there weren’t games as big as Middlesbrough there and it didn’t have as much impact if we get what we want.
“Premier League football is what we want.
“Our experience means that we have been there and done it and that will hold us in good stead but, at the end of the day, it is 90 minutes of football and we have to turn up.”