James Tarkowski said Brentford could be “very pleased” with their performance in their Sky Bet Championship win over Huddersfield Town last night.
The Bees won 4-1 with Chris Long scoring twice before Alex Pritchard and Jon Toral added late goals.
Brentford went ahead inside four minutes and dominated but Huddersfield equalised against the run of play.
James said that allowed the visitors to sit deep but The Bees broke them down in the end.
“I think we can be very pleased with how we did,” said the defender, named Man of the Match by the sponsors.
“It was a tough game; they came to sit off us.
“We had to be patient, we knew it wouldn’t be easy but we broke them down in the end and it was a good victory.
“It would not have been ideal for them that they came to sit off and we scored early.
“They got the goal and that gave them a chance to sit off and try to frustrate us.
“We broke them down and got the goals.”
James said patience was vital when a team comes to defend.
He said The Bees were not frustrated to be level at 1-1 at half time and knew they had to stay positive.
Long scored within six minutes of the restart and that meant Huddersfield had to attack.
“You have to be patient,” said James.
“It is a game of two halves and you can’t be too frustrated to be drawing at half time.
“You have to stay positive; we did that and got the goals.
“Teams do come and sit off us; they think it is the best way to deal with our strengths.
“We have learnt to deal with it and we seem to get a lot of wins.
“Getting the goal early in the second half was good, they had to open up a little bit to try and get an equaliser.
“That played in to our hands, we got the space and can cause problems.”
The win came three days after Brentford were beaten 1-0 away from home by Birmingham City.
They are, however, building a good record at Griffin Park.
The Bees have won their last three at home, scoring 11 goals in the process.
The win took them to sixth in the table, five points behind leaders Middlesbrough and James said they were now in a race to the finish.
“It is always good to bounce back after a disappointing result,” said James.
“Saturday was difficult for us; it was a tough game against another team that sat off us.
“It was nice to get another win.
“We have scored four in the last two games at home now, which is nice.
“We have to build on that and pick up points away from home.
“We are in a chase now, lots of teams close together.
“Any teams can get the top two spots and we need to pick up the points.”
Brentford’s next game is against Ipswich Town, who are seventh but have a game in hand against Leeds United tonight.
“They are all big names now,” said James.
“Saturday will be important as they are close to us and we can ensure we are ahead of them at the end of the day if we win.
“We need the points to get up there.”
James has formed a new central defensive partnership with Liam Moore in the past two games.
Moore joined The Bees from Leicester City last week and brings with him the experience of playing in the Premier League and earning promotion from the Championship last year with Leicester.
With Tony Craig and Harlee Dean also vying for places, James said competition for a spot in the team was fierce but was driving him on.
“Liam has a lot of experience at Championship level and in the Premier League,” said James.
“He is still learning the way we play but I thought he was very good.
“We have four very good centre halves and are all fighting for the spot.
“Everyone wants to be involved.
“It is me and Liam now but it has changed all season and I have spent time out of the team.
“I need to keep up my performances to keep my spot.
“Competition should make you better; you should thrive on the challenge to keep your place in the team.”
James Tarkowski’s full post-match interview can be seen here by Bees Player subscribers.