James Tarkowski said Brentford were solid and resolute as they picked up a Sky Bet Championship win against Reading.
The Bees won 3-1 at Griffin Park yesterday with Jota, Alex Pritchard and Jonathan Douglas getting the goals.
James admitted Brentford were slightly below their best but still managed to take the points.
“We are very pleased,” he said.
“It was probably not our best performance football wise.
“We didn’t keep the ball great or play out from the back well.
“But we were solid, resolute and it was a good win against a good side.”
Reading started with a 4-2-3-1 system and pressed The Bees high up the pitch.
James said Brentford were used to teams trying to stop them playing and had to mix things up but it paid dividends.
Brentford were 2-0 up at the break but Reading made changes at half time, bringing on Jamie Mackie and Simon Cox, and then later on, introducing Pavel Pogrebnyak to join Glenn Murray in attack.
Cox turned home a Mackie shot to make it 2-1 early in the second half and James said the visitors posed different questions after half time but Brentford had the answers.
The Bees got a third goal through Douglas to seal the win.
“We are getting used to teams stopping us playing out,” he said.
“It is a big part of the way we want to do things.
“Teams will come here and try to stop us, we were a bit more direct but it worked, we scored three goals.
“They were direct in the second half, playing up to Murray and then Pogrebnyak.
“We dealt with it well.
“They had more experience in the second half and a better tempo.
“Mackie was probably their biggest threat.
“They got lucky with their goal but we dealt with the long balls and set pieces.
“We expected the reaction after half time.
“They came at us but we came back stronger, got the goal and it was comfortable for the last 15 to 20 minutes.”
Brentford created less in the first half than in many periods so far this season but ended it 2-0 up.
“We have talked as a group about taking our chances,” said James.
“On Tuesday at Watford we had chances we should have taken [and lost the match].
“If we can start taking them we will get better results.”
James almost scored from a Pritchard corner but his header was cleared off the line.
However, Reading could do nothing when Douglas met another Pritchard delivery later on.
“I knew I hit the target with mine but I couldn’t generate enough power,” said James.
“If the man on the line wasn’t there it might have gone in.
“We have worked on set pieces; we haven’t been too pleased with them this season.
“We have created more chances in the past few games.
“Taking those chances is massive; it is a big part of the game.”
Brentford now have two weeks before their next match.
The players will all get four days off in order to rest.
The Bees go in to the break tenth in the table with 17 points and are only four points off the top.
“It is nice,” said James.
“I can go home and see my family; I don’t get a chance to do that very often.
“We can relax and have a few days off, ready to go again.
“The season has been OK so far, there are things I would like to improve.
“As a team we can be pleased with the way we are doing.
“We would like to be higher up the table but a few things have gone against us in recent weeks, decisions wise.
“If a few go our way, we will be heading up.”
Bees Player subscribers can see a full video interview with James Tarkowski here.