Adam Forshaw said the sending off of Tony Craig in Brentford’s 0-0 draw with Carlisle United at Griffin Park on Saturday helped the visitors execute their game plan.
The Bees were held at home by Carlisle despite dominating.
Brentford were well on top when Tony Craig was sent off for, in the opinion of referee Davis Phillips, denying David Amoo a clear goal scoring opportunity.
Adam said Carlisle went even more defensive after that, despite having an additional man, and that helped them see the game out.
The midfield player, speaking to Bees Player: Match Day Live after the final whistle, admitted it was a frustrating afternoon for The Bees.
“Even when we went down to ten men they stuck to their game plan,” he said.
“I thought they might have opened up a little bit.
“That would have created more.
“They still stayed defensive.
“The first half was very frustrating, they were hard to break down.
“To be fair to them they made life difficult and we had to go backwards rather than through the lines.
“They did a good job in midfield.
“It was tough.
“The game opened up in the second half.
“I thought they might tire eventually but when we went down to ten it played in their favour.
“When Tony was sent off I heard one of their lads say their gaffer had changed their formation to go more defensive, even though we had ten men.
“I think they thought they had the draw.
“That was their game plan, they stuck to it and the sending off played in to their hands.”
Clayton Donaldson also spoke to Bees Player: Match Day Live after the match.
He said Carlisle clearly came for a draw and Brentford’s players were disappointed they couldn’t break them down.
He said The Bees did not get their game flowing but did not know why.
“They came for a point,” said the striker.
“They made it difficult for us.
“We couldn’t really create enough to break them down.
“We have created chances in our recent home games but we ran out of ideas towards the end.
“It was one of those games, it was very frustrating and the boys are very disappointed.
“It wasn’t the best of games for us.
“They sat deep and we couldn’t get our game flow going.
“You are trying but it’s not working.
“We have dealt with teams who have done that before and we have dealt with them.
“We have looked good at home this year against teams that play 4-5-1 and try to hit on the counter attack but there wasn’t much creativity today.
“I don’t know why that was.”
Clayton said Brentford did not create many clear cut chances, despite their pressure.
He said they had to take the positives of being unbeaten after five games and fourth in Sky Bet League One and put it behind them.
“We got a few crosses in but there weren’t clear cut chances,” he said.
“You have to take the rough with the smooth.
“Sometimes you get chances and sometimes you don’t.
“Today was one of those games where we didn’t get that many.
“We will move on.
“We are still unbeaten and have to take the positives.
“It shows how other teams respect us.
“They keep it tight and make it difficult.
“They still sat back when we had a man sent off.
“They were solid with a bank of four and it was surprising to see a team with a man extra not go for it.
“We kept going, kept the ball moving and tried to get the goal.”
Brentford did have the ball in the net with ten minutes remaining.
Toumani Diagouraga scored from a corner when Carlisle goalkeeper Mark Gillespie dropped the ball under pressure from Clayton but Mr Phillips said there had been a foul.
Adam did not agree.
“We kept trying to push and get the ball wide,” he said.
“We scored a perfectly good goal that would have counted on another day.
“The keeper got a lot of protection.
“It wasn’t to be.
“They got off with one there.”
Clayton added: “I have tried to jump above the keeper.
“I didn’t make much contact at all.
“I saw him drop the ball and the whistle blew.
“My first instinct was I may be offside so I was looking for a flag.
“The referee said he gave it for a foul, it was bizarre, I didn’t touch him.
“The keeper knew he got away with it.
“That was really disappointing.”
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