Monday at the 2014 Dale Farm Milk Cup and it was the perfect start for The Bees: six points out of six, match time for almost the entire squad, no injuries and five goals.
After the excitement of arriving in Northern Ireland and the opening day parade the coaching staff were keen that the boys remembered why they were here.
Both sides faced interesting opponents as the Under-15s had been drawn against Watford while the Under-17s would face the Lusaka Academy from Zambia.
All 50 members of the group sat down to breakfast together and you began to get a real sense that this wasn’t two teams at the Milk Cup but one club.
After eating the Under-15s got together for a team meeting ahead of the 45 minute drive to their noon kick-off in Broughshane.
The Under-17s, who weren’t playing until 5pm, were afforded more free-time before they began their pre-match routines.
A number of the Under-17s used their free time to chat to the younger guys passing on advice and wishing them luck ahead of their game.
With a coach, minibus and car all packed up with equipment for the game the team left the hotel for the opening action of the Milk cup.
A full match report from the Under-15s victory can be found
but, in short, it was an excellent start for Stuart English and Gabriel Flores’ side.
Two fine goals, anyone with a Bees Player subscription should definitely check out the technique on Juan Pablo Gonzales Velasco’s opener, meant the three points were safely in the bag.
The venue draw for the first day had been more than a little unkind on The Bees as the second game of the day kicked-off five minutes down the road from the first, just five hours later.
That meant a rush back to the hostel for players, staff and Wes, the coach driver, so that everything could be turned round for the Under-17s game.
The team arrived back dead on schedule and it was then off to Clough for the second game of the day.
Again the result was in Brentford’s favour but it wasn’t without a fight as Lusaka Academy’s physical style caused The Bees more than a few headaches (and other bumps and bruises).
and after the match Tom spoke to Bees Player.
The 17-year-old said: “The win showed our character as they were a very physical team.
“If we can play like that but also show our football then we can do very well in this tournament.
“The mood in the dressing room is buzzing but we know we can play better.
“I think that is why we are so happy because we won but we know we didn’t play our best.
“The Under-15s were very happy when they came back and that gave us a little confidence boost.
“If we can get three points tomorrow it will be key.
“That will set us up great for the game against Benfica.
“Hopefully we can play our best then and get the result that means we will be in the top four.”
With two wins secured there was a great atmosphere back at the Hostel but the players were well aware that there was still a lot of work to be done.
After two tough games it was the turn of Lewis Johnson and the rest of the conditioning and medical staff to get to work to make sure the players were in top condition to go it all again on Tuesday.
The player had lights out at 10pm but it was then that the work really began for the coaching staff.
There were match DVD’s to watch, analysis to be performed, opposition tactics to be studied and plans to be written.
Despite the fact they had already been working for 17 hours you could see how much the two wins meant to the staff.
Their work in the small hours of Monday morning had helped The Bees to six points from six on Monday and now their work in the small hours of Tuesday morning (and in the some cases the not so small hours) was all towards making Tuesday equally as successful.