Lewis Macleod was in no doubt that Brentford deserved the three points after John Egan’s brace sunk Ipswich Town at Griffin Park this afternoon. The Irish defender snuck in to head home Lewis’s corner just after half-time and then was in the right place as Bartosz Bialkowski could only parry Nico Yennaris’s shot eight minutes later. Speaking to Bees Player after the match, Lewis said the whole team battled well to earn the three points and that they can take lots of belief into Tuesday’s match at home to Nottingham Forest.
“I am delighted to make my home debut but it is good to get off the mark,” said Lewis. “I thought we played very well. We battled well all over the pitch and won every ball. That stood us in good stead for the game and I thought we played very well. We have been working a lot on set-pieces. I know that it is only the second game but it is good to see them work. We do them in most training sessions so it is good to see them come off in the games. Once we scored the goal we got a lot more confidence and we started to play the ball a lot more on the ground. We were much brighter in the second-half but we still battled well and it was a good performance. The boys were buzzing after the win. That will give us good belief to take into the game on Tuesday night where we will look to do the same.”
This afternoon’s match was Lewis’s home debut after an injury ravaged first 18 months at Griffin Park. The 22-year-old joined from Rangers in January 2015 but managed only one substitute appearance before his full debut last week against Huddersfield Town. Now, having completed 80 minutes last Saturday and 88 minutes today, he is looking forward to kicking on and showing Brentford fans his true potential.
“It has been a long time coming for me to get out there and I am looking to do it much more,” said Lewis. “This is probably the longest that I have played in a long-time. I felt a lot better today. I felt a little bit tired in the last 20 minutes but at the same time I am still getting up and down the pitch which will stand me in good stead for the next couple of games. The ovation at the end was a great feeling. It is always good to have a half decent game. There is much more to come from me and I am just looking forward to the next couple of games.”