Jermaine Udumaga was pleased with the overall performance of Brentford’s Development Squad after their 4-1 Under-21 Professional Development League Two South win over QPR on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old found the net twice, either side of a Betinho close range finish, with Bradley Clayton getting on the score sheet late on.
QPR were second best throughout the game leaving Jermaine and his teammates very happy with their performance and the result.
Speaking to Bees Player after the match Jermaine said: “It was a very good game to be fair.
“We started well.
“Before the match we spoke about counter-attacking and that is what happened.
“We kept the ball well and pressed them well, overall it was a very good game for us.
“We wanted to get that first goal straight away and I thought we played well.
“They got back into the game on the half-hour but I felt we controlled the game in the first-half.
“We had a lot of forward runners today and that is what we concentrate most on in training.
“So to see that happening and then to get the penalty and score from it is really good.
“It is hard to defend when you have those runners and they didn’t leave that many players back.
“There was a lot of space to run forward into and we just utilised it.
“At half-time Lee told us that we can’t take our foot off the gas and we have to keep going.
“We knew that we had to get the second and third goals.
“The goals straight after half-time calmed us down and we knew then that we could keep the ball, play our game and get more if we can.
“We were talking at half-time about wanting to keep the clean sheet.
“It was a bit disappointing that we didn’t keep the clean sheet but we got the win so we were happy about that.”
Jermaine’s two goals, the first of which was a penalty and the second a sweetly struck drive from the edge of the box, took him to six goals in his last seven games and seven in total for the season.
The midfielder revealed that he has been doing extra training and shooting practice and it was nice to see thing paying off.
The former Oxford United man said it could be disheartening to do all the extra work and not see results but he has been pleased with the improvements in his game recently.
“When Josh got on the ball I thought he was going to go himself,” said Jermaine.
“When I saw that he couldn’t I just tried to give him an angle.
“Once I hit it I knew it was going to go in.
“I am pleased with my goal-scoring form.
“That was something I needed to add to my game.
“Every midfielder wants to be scoring goals and I happy to be doing that now.
“We do practice with Bartek on out ball striking and I can see my strikes improving.
“After training we will do extras after training on shooting.
“When you do all these extras after training if it doesn’t work then you start to wonder if there is any point in doing them.
“When you see that it is working then you just want to carry on and keep going.”
Next up for the Development Squad is Friday’s match under lights at Griffin Park against Swansea City.
The Swans, who fielded a side that included Jonjo Shelvey and Mo Barrow, won the first fixture between the two in South Wales back in November by four goals to one.
Jermaine is looking forward to testing himself against Swansea, who do not have a first-team fixture this weekend, and has backed Brentford to deal with the threat they pose.
“We are looking forward to Friday’s game,” said Jermaine.
“With it being at the stadium it is even more of an incentive to go out there and do well.
“There will be a bit more pressure but we just have to deal with it.
“We want to try and go and get another win.
“If they bring a strong side we have to deal with it and we have had a couple of first-team players playing with us too.
“We should be as strong as them and we have just got to try and cope and get the win.
“I enjoyed playing against Jonjo Shelvey a lot because I know what he is capable of and I know what he can do.”
Lee Carsley’s side go into the match on the back of three straight league wins after victories over Crystal Palace, Cardiff City and now QPR.
Having won only one of their first 10 league games this season Jermaine is pleased with the turnaround in form and with how much more confident the team have been in recent matches.
“The confidence in the group is high,” said Jermaine.
“We go into every game thinking that we can get a result now.
“We are not thinking about losing or drawing but we are just looking to win every game.
“The group is high.
“The banter is flying and everyone is happy at the moment.
“We have just got to keep that going into the next game.”