Jon De Souza said that his players should already be at the level to beat non-league teams if they harbour ambitions of playing for The Bees first-team.
The Development Squad manager was speaking after he saw his side go down 2-0 away at Skrill Premier side Welling United on Saturday.
That defeat was The Bees Development Squad’s second reversal in four days against non-league opponents following a 3-0 defeat to Staines Town on Tuesday night.
Speaking to Bees Player after the game Jon said that his side should be getting better results against non-league sides if they hope to bridge the gap to the First-Team and Championship football.
For Jon it was a very good test, against a team going all-out to win a game of football ahead of their Skrill Premier opener against AFC Telford on Saturday, but one that his side did not stand up to.
“It was a very good test but I expect our players to be able to compete at this level,” said Jon.
“The first-team are a Championship club and so the minimum level we should be able to compete at is Conference level or League Two.
“I said to the players after the game there that if they want to progress to our first-team then at this stage they should be at least good enough to compete in League One or League Two.
“This pre-season has been about exposing the players to different styles and ultimately to teams that are doing everything they can to get three points.
“In Under-21s football and Youth Team football the teams don’t always go all out to win three points but Welling are preparing for their first league game next week and a win was important to them.”
Welling opened the scoring in the closing stages of the first-half as Jake Gallagher reacted quickest to poke home after Jack Bonham has saved from Kevin Krans.
The Wings wrapped up the win ten minutes into the second-half as Gallagher grabbed his second, lashing home from close range from a deep corner.
Brentford dominated possession but never looked like creating much against a well organised Welling back line while the power and size of Kieron St. Aimee up front for Welling caused The Bees problems all afternoon.
Jon felt after the game that was where the game was lost as Welling dominated in both boxes.
“I was bitterly disappointed with the result today,” said Jon.
“The overall performance, both in and out of possession, wasn’t good enough.
“First-half we didn’t do well enough in transitions.
“We did ok in possession but when we won the ball back we never looked like we tried to threaten in behind or threaten the goal.
“Defensively every time we lost it we didn’t recover or press well enough and they looked like a threat.
“At both ends of the pitch they looked a threat and we didn’t.
“Welling’s tactics caused us problems because when they won it they hit the centre-forward quite quickly and they got runners from deep.
“Our players didn’t recover quickly enough and didn’t get into their shape.
“It is a different style but the philosophy stays the same: when you lose the ball you get back into shape as quickly as possible.”
Jon said that overall he has been disappointed with the end of his side’s pre-season campaign after a positive start.
He believes that certain individuals in his squad need to show big improvements ahead of the start of the new season.
“I am disappointed with how we have been the last couple of weeks,” said Jon.
“I was happy with how they started.
“Their fitness overall was good.
“From the last couple of weeks we need to make a lot of improvements to really kick individuals on.
“The biggest thing we need to work on are transitions.
“When you win the football that is your biggest chance of scoring and when you lose the ball it is your biggest chance of conceding.
“We need to be better in both of those.”