Brentford Manager Mark Warburton said his team lacked the rhythm and quality to break down a well-organised Nottingham Forest side at Griffin Park yesterday but hailed their character as they came from two down to get a point.
The Bees earned a draw with two goals in the last ten minutes against Forest at Griffin Park on a warm Easter Monday.
Mark said his team dominated possession and chances but gave away two goals and they found themselves in a hole with ten minutes remaining.
But Andre Gray struck from the edge of the penalty area before Jota headed home a Tommy Smith cross in the last seconds to earn Brentford a point.
Mark, speaking after the match, said Forest had a game plan and a good attacking outlet in Michail Antonio.
He said his team needed to be cleverer in attacking areas and have to defend better to win matches.
“We got ourselves in to a hole,” said the Brentford boss.
“We can dominate possession, have all the chances but the key stat will always be goals.
“We gave away two goals.
“Forest defended well, they put men behind the ball.
“Antonio is a dangerous outlet, he is physically strong and a good quality player.
“They sat men behind the ball and defended well, teams will come here and do that and we have to show quality to break them down.
“We lacked the rhythm and quality today to break down a resilient defence.
“Sometimes we were too keen to cross, especially on the right.
“That played in to Forest’s hands.
“We got in to good areas but lacked cleverness to hurt their defence.
“We had to get something out of the game and gave it a go.
“The first goal came from a long ball we didn’t deal with and the second was from a ball we let bounce.
“But the players know that and at this level you will get punished.
“Jota scoring a header at the far post in the 93rd minute tells you all you need to know about the character of this group of players.”
Brentford made one change from the team which beat Fulham on Good Friday with Alan Judge replacing Jonathan Douglas.
Douglas had played 39 of Brentford’s 40 games before the Forest draw and completed most of them and Mark said he needed to rest the experienced midfield man.
The Brentford boss added he wanted to start Chris Long but the on loan forward had a stomach problem.
“I am conscious that Dougie has played almost every minute of every game,” said Mark.
“He has been a key player for us and I want to make sure as we enter the key home stretch he has as much energy in the tank as possible.
“We left him out to give him a rest.
“It is a risk and Dougie wants to play but the squad is good enough and we showed it.
“The stats will be very one-sided.
“Chris Long had a stomach upset.
“I was looking at starting Chris to give Andre a rest.
“We have five massive games left and I want to give us the best chance.”
Brentford sit seventh in the Sky Bet Championship with five matches remaining.
They play Derby County, who are a point ahead in fifth, on Saturday, and currently sit six points outside the automatic promotion places and seven adrift of league leaders AFC Bournemouth.
Mark said it was likely other teams chasing promotion would drop points and admitted two points from home games against Cardiff City, Millwall and Forest was below target.
But he added four points from the Easter weekend was a decent haul.
“The players are hungry for promotion,” said Mark.
“We have always said points will be dropped.
“It feels like two points dropped at the moment, you don’t want to drop any at home.
“We have dropped points against Cardiff, Millwall and today at a place that was previously very tough for people to come to.
“But it was one of those days where the rub of the green didn’t go our way, however, we did get a 93rd minute equaliser.
“Teams don’t come here and play in an expansive way.
“Forest had a game plan, they defended well with real resilience.
“The keeper made one or two fine saves.
“We knew the threat, we got ourselves in to a hole and got out of it.
“We never go in to a game looking for a point but four from two tough games this weekend is two a game, that’s normally promotion form.”
Bees Player subscribers can see full post-match reaction from Mark Warburton here.