Brentford should have come away from today's match against Rotherham United with at least a point according to defender John Egan. The summer signing was speaking after a 1-0 defeat to The Millers, Danny Ward’s first-half strike proving the difference between the two sides. The Bees dominated the game after Ward’s goal but couldn’t find a leveller, something which frustrated and disappointed John.
“We are all hurting in there,” said John, speaking to Bees Player after the match. “We really believed that we could come here, put a performance in, and get the three points. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the three points and we are really disappointed with the result. Out of the last few games that is probably the best that we have moved the ball. We got into the final third a lot and on another day things would have dropped for us and a couple of goals might have gone in. I had a header in the box that I should have done better with. If you have to take any positive out of it, then the performance on the ball was good. I feel like we controlled the game and we should definitely have come away from here with something.”
John's 90 minutes this afternoon means that the 23-year-old has played every minute of the season so far after joining from Gillingham last month. In all five games he has played alongside Harlee Dean and he feels that his partnership with The Bees’ captain is coming along well.
“Myself and Harlee Dean are coming on leaps and bounds,” said John. “We have been solid the last few games. It was touch and go whether he was offside for the goal today. Looking back at it maybe I should have stayed with him but it is one of those things. Apart from that I think we were solid. I feel like I have settled in with the lads, they are a great bunch of players to play with. I feel that it is going well so far. I just have to take it game by game and, if I am selected to play, I have to give it my all and hopefully get the three points.”
Today’s two teams came into the game on the back of contrasting runs of form, The Bees winning their last two, keeping two clean sheets, while The Millers conceded six in two defeats away at Aston Villa and Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this week. John felt that today’s result showed how competitive the Sky Bet Championship is and how important consistency will be over the course of the season.
“We came here on the back of strong results and Rotherham had two heavy defeats,” said John. “That just shows that, on any given day, anyone can beat anyone. That is what we have to be aware of and that is why we have to build up the consistency. We need to keep trying to get results to put winning runs together. That will be important moving forward.”