Toumani Diagouraga said Brentford’s players were disappointed to have “dropped two points” against Nottingham Forest yesterday but admitted they would have taken a share of the spoils when two goals down with ten minutes to play.
The Bees scored twice in the final moments – including one from Jota in stoppage time – to draw 2-2 with Forest at Griffin Park yesterday.
The visitors had scored twice on the break and appeared to have the game won before Andre Gray halved the deficit and Jota headed home at the death.
Toumani, speaking to Bees Player after the match, said the visitors had a game plan to counter-attack and Brentford paid the price for defensive mistakes.
“We are disappointed,” said the midfield player.
“We feel we have dropped two points but with ten minutes to go we were 2-0 down so it might be an important point at the end of the season.
“If you are 2-0 down with ten minutes to go, you take a point.
“At the start of the game we wanted three points.
“We couldn’t do that but we got one.
“I think we played alright.
“They were good on the counter-attack and waited for us to come on to them.
“We paid the price for a couple of mistakes.
“But we will move on.”
Toumani said it was a tribute to Brentford that Forest came to Griffin Park with a back four and defensive midfield pair that barely went forward.
He said they were exposed when they lost the ball cheaply but that is how they want to play.
“They made life difficult for us but it shows how far we have come that Nottingham Forest come here to defend,” said Toumani.
“That shows how well we are doing.
“We are always trying to attack.
“When we lose the ball or give it away cheaply, that is when we are exposed.
“Everyone is going forward and our defenders are left one v one or two v two.
“We don’t worry about the opposition, we try to win, not just try not to lose.
“At half time we thought we had to raise the tempo a little bit.
“We wanted to try and get the opening goal but unfortunately they did.
“We always look at every game and we will look at the goals we conceded today.”
The draw left Brentford seventh in the Sky Bet Championship table with five games to go.
They took four points from six over the Easter weekend after beating Fulham on Good Friday.
The Bees play Derby County, who are fifth and a point ahead, on Saturday and Toumani said Brentford would not dwell on the Forest draw.
“We might have taken four points from six before Friday,” said Toumani. “But we go in to every game to get three points.
“We wanted to win at Fulham and we wanted to win today.
“We couldn’t do that but we will bounce back.
“We have to move on.
“We can’t dwell too much on that game, we have to make sure we are ready to get three points at Derby.
“We are in a good position.
“There are five games to go and there are twists and turns in the league.
“We will take the games one at a time.
“We will go to Derby to try and get a win.”
A full post-match interview with Toumani Diagouraga is available here for Bees Player subscribers.