Marinus Dijkhuizen felt the difference in finishing was the key factor in deciding tonight’s Sky Bet Championship fixture between Brentford and Middlesbrough at The Riverside Stadium.
The hosts took the lead just ahead of the break through Cristhian Stuani before Lasse Vibe equalised five minutes into the second-half. Stuani added his second with 20 minutes to play and Albert Adomah settled matters 12 minutes from time.
Speaking to Bees Player after the match Marinus said: “The result was disappointing but I saw a lot of good things. The main difference was the quality of finishing: we had three big chances, twice from Marco Djuricin and once from Konstantin Kerschbaumer, and if you want to get a result here you have to take the chances that you make. We had a big chance at 2-1 to make it 2-2 and that was one of the main differences today.
“We conceded three goals today which is not good. We are struggling a little bit on our left-side but looked very strong on the right. We played good football tonight and had a good fighting spirit and made the same chances as Middlesbrough but they scored three goals.”
Marinus was only able to name six substitutes on the bench for Tuesday’s match, with two of them being goalkeepers Jack Bonham and Mark Smith, after James Tarkowski and Philipp Hofmann picked up knocks in Saturday’s draw with Leeds United.
The Bees Head Coach is hopeful that James will be fit for Saturday but is not expecting any others to be back in contention before the visit of Preston North End.
“James Tarkowski is a doubt for Saturday but we are hopeful that he can play,” said Marinus. “Philipp Hofmann is injured and we will have to wait a couple of days to know what is his situation. The other players are all longer term injuries so we are struggling a little at the moment.”
Brentford’s players and staff stayed in the north of the country after Saturday’s match at Elland Road to minimise travel between the two long away trips.
The squad will travel back tomorrow after a recovery session ahead of Saturday’s visit of Preston North End to Griffin Park.
“It was very good to stay up after the Leeds United match and there was a very good spirit within the team and in training,” said Marinus. “The connection between the players and the staff was very good. We will stay up tonight, have recovery in the morning and then travel back tomorrow. We will be off on Thursday and then train on Friday ahead of Preston North End. Preston will be the first of three games at home so it will be nice to have no travelling. It is always good to play at home but especially after this defeat tonight we need to win at home on Saturday.”
After the match Marinus reserved a special mention for the 149 Brentford fans who made the nigh-on 500 mile trip to The Riverside saying: “It is unbelievable to take that many up here on a Tuesday night. The staff and the players appreciate it a lot and hopefully we can give them the three points on Saturday.”
Bees Player subscribers can listen to the full interview below