Kevin O’Connor saw much to be pleased about despite conceding a 90th minute equaliser away at Sheffield Wednesday in the Under-21 Professional Development League Two on Tuesday.
The Bees, managed by Kevin for the first-time following Lee Carsley’s move to First-Team Head Coach, took an early lead through Montell Moore only for Sergio Bus to equalise a minute before the break.
Moore put Brentford back in front with 13 minutes to play but again Bus struck late in the half, capitalising on a defensive slip, to bundle the ball home.
Speaking to Bees Player after the match Kevin said: “Sheffield Wednesday were slightly more experienced than us, especially at the back, so we decided to sit off them a little bit in the second-half and that worked. We looked dangerous on the counter. We managed to go 2-1 up and looked comfortable so to concede in the manner that we did was disappointing. That seems to happen too often and we have to stamp it out. We are trying our best to eradicate those individual errors so hopefully we can do that.
“Getting the ball forward and wide was our plan today and it worked well. Courtney Senior and Montell Moore did well and looked dangerous. Montell has got himself two goals and that will do the pair of them the world of good. I thought after we scored the second-goal we looked quite comfortable. They were going quite direct, as you would in the closing stages, and it was one individual mistake that cost us. We tried to be too clever with a long ball when we just had to clear it so that was slightly frustrating but there were loads of positives.”
With Josh Clarke and Jermaine Udumaga involving with the First-Team and Daniel O’Shaugnessy, Josh Laurent and Aaron Greene all out on loan The Bees squad included 11 players aged 18 or younger against a Wednesday side that started with three first-team players.
Kevin was very pleased with the way his young side stood up to the test against an older, physical opponent and wants to expose more of the club’s youngsters to Development Squad football in the coming weeks.
“Sheffield Wednesday had an experienced centre-forward in Sergio Bus and Chris Mepham has come in and done well there,” said Kevin. “It is really pleasing to see the Youth Team players coming in and doing so well. Reece Cole has done well in recent games. We are looking to do that a bit more in the next few weeks with getting the better Under-18s involved and gaining experience in the Under-21s.”
Kevin admitted it has been a strange week after finding out on Monday that the management duo of Marinus Dijkhuizen and Roy Hendriksen had been replaced and he was the new Development Squad boss.
However Kevin, who is one of only four men to play more than 500 matches for Brentford, said he is relishing the opportunity to test himself as the new Development Squad Head Coach.
“It has been a strange last 24 hours,” said Kevin. “I walked in yesterday thinking that it was business as usual but then you hear that Marinus Dijkhuizen has left and Lee Carsley has stepped up. It is sad because you never want to see anyone lose their jobs but I am in to the Under-21s now. I have been given the manager’s role until the end of the season so I am excited about that and looking forward to it.
“It will be great for me but as well Lee Carsley knows the Under-21s so hopefully there will be a pathway that the boys can see there. Lee knows all about the boys so it could be a good thing for the boys who are doing well to potentially get involved. That is a good thing and it can only help the squad. The boys have been as good as gold. Training was sharp yesterday and they gave their all again today. There was no lack of effort or endeavour.”
Bees Player subscribers can watch the full interview with Kevin below