Jermaine Udumaga admitted that Brentford game themselves too much to do after a nightmare opening 20 minutes against Sheffield United this afternoon in the Under-21 Professional Development League Two.
The Bees found themselves 2-0 down and despite goals from Courtney Senior and a late Jan Holdack strike they fell to a 3-2 defeat against The Blades at Jersey Road.
Speaking to Bees Player after the defeat Jermaine said: “We lost it in the first 20 minutes and that was key. We didn’t get started and we didn’t pass the ball as we usually do. They were a bit more physical than us and we lost in all departments in the first 20 minutes. We needed to be a bit more tactical in how we approached the game and be better than them in all aspects.
“We got back into the game when Courtney Senior scored a good goal for us and the keeper made a good save to deny me. Kevin got into us at half-time and we came back out raring to go. Josh getting sent off was another challenge but we kept going and we never gave up.”
The defeat was a first in eight matches under Kevin O’Connor who replaced Lee Carsley as Head Coach in September and Jermaine said he has really enjoyed working under the man who has made 501 appearances for The Bees.
“It has been good working under Kevin and training has been high intensity,” said Jermaine. “Everyone is raring to go and it has been a really good month. Everyone is fighting to get into the team and everyone is training well. Everyone is playing well at the moment and it is a good squad to be in.”
Jermaine made four appearances for the first-team, three in the Sky Bet Championship, earlier this season and the 20-year-old said he knows he has to work hard to force his way back into the first-team reckoning.
“It has been an up and down season for me,” said Jermaine. “I was with the first-team and playing a few games for them. Now I have to get my confidence back and start scoring goals to get back into the first-team. I am here to either create or score goals so the more goals that I score then the more chance I have of getting into the team. There are lots of things that I need to improve on before I get to the first-team level. There are a lot of good players in the first-team. Everyone is fighting for their position and when you come from the Development Squad you have to work twice as hard.”
Bees Player subscribers can listen to the full interview below