Jonathan Douglas said his goal for Brentford in their Sky Bet League One win against Crawley Town last night was not the best of his career, but was one of the most important.
Jonathan scored the only goal as The Bees beat Crawley 1-0 at Griffin Park last night.
The goal came just before the hour mark, Stuart Dallas set Alan Judge away and his cross was met by Jonathan, his header did not have a lot of power but squirmed through the hands of Crawley goalkeeper Paul Jones
It gave The Bees a win that keeps them second in League One, nine points ahead of nearest challengers Rotherham United with five games to go.
“I saw Alan Judge on the left, I tried to give him an angle for the cross,” said Jonathan, speaking to Bees Player after the match.
“Luckily I got my head on it.
“It was a poor header, to be fair, and I don’t know how it went in.
“At this time of the season, we will take it.
“It wasn’t the finest goal of my career but I don’t score many so I will take it.
“It would be one of the more important ones.
“It wasn’t pretty but if you don’t score many, you take anything.
“It helps the team and hopefully we can keep going to the end of the season.
“We all want promotion and it was an important three points.”
Jonathan sad Crawley came with a plan and pressed Brentford well all over the pitch.
He said the players knew they had to be patient and always believed a goal would come.
“Crawley pressed us high, to give them credit,” said Jonathan.
“They had a plan; they pressed us well all over the pitch and tried to stop us playing.
“We knew they would tire after 60 or 70 minutes and we had to be patient.
“We create chances and we have quality to score goals.
“Luckily, it was me today.
“You have to believe the goal is coming.
“The way we create chances and the players we have in the team, a goal will come.
“We have to keep passing the ball, not be sloppy and a goal will come.”
Jonathan said Brentford produced a good performance overall.
He said they controlled the first half and were happy at the break and the game continued in the same fashion afterwards.
“The performance was good overall,” said Jonathan.
“We controlled the game in the first half.
“We created a couple of chances.
“We were relatively pleased at half time; we had played well and passed the ball well.
“In the second half it was the same.
“Sometimes they pressed us, sometimes they sat.
“We felt it was a matter of time and luckily it came.”
Rotherham were beaten at Sheffield United last night to enable Brentford to build their cushion.
Jonathan said Brentford were only worried about themselves and looking ahead to their next game, away to Swindon Town on Saturday.
“We have to work on our own game,” he said.
“We have to concentrate on us; we can’t concentrate on other teams.
“We have a job to do, we have points to get.
“If we look after our job, we will get promoted.
“We have another tough game away to Swindon.
“It will be tough but I am looking forward to it.”
Jonathan has played 30 league games for The Bees this season.
He has missed only one – against Port Vale in January – after returning to the team in October after recovering from a knee operation.
He praised the Brentford back room team for their work getting him ready for games.
“With me, with the injury I had last year, I tend to – the lads say – get looked after,” explained Jonathan.
“I am with the physios; I do work in the gym, in the pool and on the bike.
“Some of the other lads do the same.
“Every player in the division has niggles at this time, you have to keep going and keep believing.
“We will drag each other through games and get to where we want to be – up in the next division.”
Jonathan Douglas’ full post-match reaction is available here for Bees Player subscribers.