John Egan admitted it was a tough one to take as Kyle Bartley headed home in the 89th minute to hand Leeds United the three points at Elland Road this afternoon. The Bees matched their hosts for the majority of the encounter only to concede at the death as Bartley stole in to flick a header past Daniel Bentley from a short corner.
Speaking to Bees Player after the match, John said: “It is tough because there wasn’t a lot between the two teams. It could have gone either way and it is very gutting to lose in the last minute. It is a very down dressing room in there right now but we have to bounce back next time now against Cardiff City. It was a really committed performance: there wasn’t a lot of lovely football played by either side in a scrappy game. We scrapped it out really well. We had the ball in the back of the net, it was touch and go whether it was offside or not, and that changed the game. It could have gone either way and it is gutting to concede in the last minute.”
Brentford had the better of the first-half and would have led at the break were it not for a tight offside call against Lasse Vibe late on in the half. The second-half saw the home side exert more pressure, without forcing Daniel Bentley into a meaningful save, until they struck late on.
“First-half we played some good football and nearly got in a couple of times,” said John. “One of the main things was to quieten down their crowd as we know that it is a noisy place to play. We felt solid all game and came unstuck with a set-piece which is always hard to take. We hardly gave any chances away today and I think there’s still more to come from us on the ball with creating chances. All the little bits add up to a big bit. People have given their all today and that is why it is so hard to take.”
With one game to go until the mid-point of the season, and, having played everyone but Cardiff City, The Bees sit 14th in the table. Heading into the second-half of the campaign, John thinks The Bees have nothing to fear from the league and feels they are capable of putting together a run of form to fire them up the league.
“We certainly don’t fear anyone and, on our day, we can be a match for everyone,” said John. “The table shows that we are 14th but we want to be higher than that. We want to push up the table. Hopefully we can take everything we have learned so far this season into the second half of the season and drive on. If we can get on a run of games where we keep picking up results, then who knows where that can take us. It is a young team but we have got a lot of ability. Everyone wants to make themselves better and that will stand us in good stead for the future but, make no bones about it, we don’t want to lose games like today: we want to be winning these games.”