Brentford Head Coach Marinus Dijkhuizen described his side’s pre-season win over Boreham Wood as a “good exercise”.
The Bees won the match 3-0 with Andre Gray scoring two and Jota smashing in a spectacular strike.
Marinus used 21 players with Toumani Diagouraga, Gray and Jota all getting 70 minutes under their belt.
The Head Coach said he was pleased with the first half performance but said the second half was harder as Boreham Wood made the game compact.
The Bees ended the game with ten players as referee Chris O’Donnell said they could not bring substituted players back on but Marinus said that would be useful.
Marinus, speaking to Bees PlayerHD, said: “We got some match minutes. Playing games is always good for the players.
“We scored some good goals and in the first half there was some good forward, attacking play. The second half was difficult for 25 minutes, they were very compact and it was difficult to create chance.
“In the last 20 minutes we played with ten because I didn’t want to give players 90 minutes.
“The referee said we couldn’t bring Nico Yennaris back on. It turned out to be a good exercise for us. We didn’t want to give players 90 minutes because they are not ready for it.
“At the start of the match the players were getting used to the pitch and each other but I saw some good things today. I was satisfied by the first half.
“I liked the goal from Jota, our third goal was also good, we showed patience. We had good possession in the second half but couldn’t create chances. It was a good exercise for us.”
Andreas Bjelland, Josh McEachran and Stuart Dallas played for the first time this pre-season but Marinus said others – including Akaki Gogia and Sam Saunders – were injured and could not play.
Development Squad players Courtney Senior and Aaron Greene played and Marinus said that would be good for them.
Marinus said it was still too early to talk about line-ups for the competitive season with players still likely to come and go.
“It is a bit too early to talk about the players we will use in league matches,” he said. “We have some good matches coming up, the players have some minutes under their belts and we will get to that stage.
“Josh McEachran is a little bit behind on fitness but Andreas Bjelland is OK, as is Stuart. There is a tough season so we are being careful, I want the players fit.
“We have some players injured, Akaki Gogia and Sam Saunders were not available. We needed players so it was good for Courtney Senior and Aaron Greene to play.
“We still expect more players to go out and come in. We had a very good training camp in Portugal, we have learned a lot and we are in a good place now.”
A full interview with Marinus Dijkhuizen is on Bees PlayerHD below.