Jon De Souza believes his Youth Team did enough to win their Under 18 Professional Development League Two South clash at home to Bristol City on Saturday morning.
City took the lead after four minutes when Matt Mattis was on hand to slam home after Joe Morrell had latched on to a long through ball.
It looked for a long time, despite Brentford’s pressure, that would be the decisive goal until Kyjuon Marsh-Brown stepped up to volley home ten minutes from time to secure a share of the spoils.
Speaking to Bees Player after the game Jon said he thought that once his side dealt with City’s direct attacking play they dominated the game.
Jon felt it was an improved performance on last week’s win against Cardiff City and that his side deserved to take all three points from the game.
“I think overall we probably deserved to win the game,” said Jon.
“We didn’t start very well in the first 15 minutes or so but beyond that I think we probably deserved to win the game of football.
“As a club and as a Youth Team we like to press quite high up the pitch.
“As we were trying to press high up the pitch and Bristol City were looking to put the ball in behind us as quickly as possible, I felt we were too high up the pitch and that allowed them space to get in behind.
“Once we were able to adapt to that and the players dropped off a little bit deeper we were able to compete with them, not have a race with them, and we got on top of the game.
“We have a style of play that means, in possession, we play regardless of what the opposition do and out of possession we try and press.
“However you have to press in different ways.
“If a team are trying to play complete football and rarely go in behind then you can look to get extremely tight because you don’t have to worry about passes going over you.
“If the team are going forward quite early you might have to drop off a little deeper and protect the space in behind.
“We set the players up a certain way but it does need to be tweaked depending on what the opposition do.
“We improved when we were able to make the tactical changes.
“Especially down our right-hand side we asked Chris Mepham to drop and get everyone back deeper to encourage them to play in front of us which they didn’t really do and if they don’t do that then we are set to deal with the longer pass.”
The Bees dominated large spells of the match but found it difficult to break down a stubborn Bristol City defence who got bodies and number in the way to frustrate The Bees.
Aside from Kyjuon’s goal the closest Jon’s side came to scoring was a pair of Jeremiah Kamanzi shots blocked by Ben Last.
Jon felt that there was definite improvement in possession from his side but that they didn’t do enough when they got into the final third to put Bristol City’s defence under pressure.
“In possession it was an improvement on what I had seen last week and in the previous weeks,” said Jon.
“We just needed to have a little bit more quality in the final third.
“If you look at how we passed the ball overall we probably dominated the game in terms of possession.
“We made a lot of passes and we were in and around the final third a lot but we didn’t really test the goalkeeper for all that play and it is something we need to look at and work on.
“Everything we do has to lead to a threat to the goal.
“We want to see midfielders having shots, balls into the front man and getting runners off him.
“We want bright creative play, and shots are part of that, to get shots off and score goals.”
The draw extended The Bees run to just one defeat in eight league games and maintains their lead at the summit of the Under 18 Professional Development League Two South.
Jon believes that teams are now starting to consider a draw against his side a good result as shown by City’s time-wasting tactics in the second-half.
With such a run of good form Jon believes there is a great belief within the dressing room and that his side never know they are beaten.
“The boys never felt like they were beaten,” said Jon.
“They wanted to try and go and win the game after they got the equaliser and, for me, it is testament to them that Bristol City tried to keep the ball in the corner at 1-1 with ten minutes to go.
“That gives you an idea of where we are at and what teams are trying to achieve when they play us.
“They had a will not lose mentality and added a little bit of quality so it is an improvement on last week in that sense.
“We just need to build on that and continue to have that mentality.”
Jon’s side have no league fixture next Saturday before returning to action on November 15th with a home game against Crystal Palace at Jersey Road.
With the additional week without a game Jon said it gives him and the coaching staff time to work with the players on their coaching syllabus.
Jon was pleased that his side avoided defeat ahead of the two week break from games as Jon feels it is much easier to coach and improve players off the back of positive results.
“The performance of players going out and doing what we want them to do is the ultimate thing,” said Jon.
“You can’t control the result even though I thought we deserved to win the game.
“However it is always easier to coach and help the players when they have won a game of football.
“It helps the players to take information on board if they are doing well.
“We have a syllabus and curriculum that we work to regardless of the performances and results.
“Player development is a long term thing so we are not going to say that we need to be brighter in and around the final third so we will work on this.
“We have a set curriculum that we believe will help the players and we stick to that regardless of performances and results.
“Nobody enjoys not having a game at the weekend but it gives us extra time to work with and improve the players.”
Bees Player subscribers can listen to the full interview here