James Tarkowski said getting his first goal for Brentford in the Sky Bet League One win over Tranmere Rovers was a “good feeling”.
The central defender headed home a Jake Bidwell free kick just past the hour mark to put Brentford in front.
They eventually won the game 2-0 with Clayton Donaldson scoring the other.
James joined Brentford at the end of January and was playing his third game against Tranmere.
He praised the delivery for the goal and said it was nice to get off the mark.
“I got on the end of one in the first half and I was disappointed it didn’t go in,” said James, speaking to Bees Player.
“The keeper made a good save.
“I managed to get one in the second half.
“I lost my man and he was in front of me.
“The flight of the ball looked perfect, right on to my head.
“I managed to get it on target and it went in.
“It is a good feeling.
“It is nice to get the first goal for a new club.
“I haven’t scored many in my career, it is always nice to get one.
“It has helped us to another three points and pushed us forward on to Saturday.”
Brentford have not conceded a goal in the three games James has played.
He said The Bees have been solid at the back in his three games and hoped it would carry on.
Tranmere came close to scoring, hit the bar from 20 yards and then from a corner.
Goalkeeper David Button also made a good save when James failed to connect properly with a defensive header and Tranmere striker Ryan Lowe got in.
“It is good from my point of view,” said James, discussing the defensive record.
“If you are a defender you can’t do much more than keep clean sheets.
“I think we have looked really solid as a back four, we have limited teams to few chances.
“Hopefully we can continue.
“They hit the bar twice, from a set piece and a shot, but apart from that I don’t think they had many clear cut chances.
“I made a mistake and they got in first half.
“I was disappointed with that.
“David Button did really well
“We limited them to chances that weren’t easy.”
James said he was happy overall with the way he played and said Brentford could be pleased overall with how they did.
He said the Tranmere game was similar to Brentford’s win over Bradford City three days earlier.
Both matches saw Brentford dominate the match but only get their goals in the second period.
“I was happy with my performance,” said James.
“I got a bit sloppy in the last ten minutes.
“They weren’t trying to push for anything.
“Apart from that, I was pleased.
“As a team we can be pleased with how we did.
“Teams are coming here and sitting off us.
“They are happy to get a point, we have to try and up the tempo.
“In the second half of the last two games, we have gone up a gear and got chances, and then goals.
“As a centre half you get a lot of the ball, you have to play the first pass and get the move going.
“If the first pass is good the midfield can move the ball quick, the strikers can get their movement right and we create chances.”
James said the players always felt the goal would come.
“We are always confident we have a goal in us,” he said.
“You can see from the way we attack we look like we will score goals.
“We can’t force it, we have to be patient.
“We have played too deep in the first half of the last couple of games.
“Once we get in to their half, pen them in, we get our chances.
“Teams can’t defend for ten minutes straight.
“If the ball keeps coming back, that is when we get the goals.”
James said the pressure of pushing for promotion was a nice one.
The Bees are third in the table, three points behind leaders Wolverhampton wanderers and one behind Leyton Orient, who are second.
Brentford face Orient on Saturday but James said that game would not be considered more important than others.
“We have a nice pressure at the moment,” he said.
“It is to win and get promoted.
“It is a good environment to play in and when you win it is even better.
“You need points to get promoted.
“If we keep winning we will go up.
“We move on to Saturday for another game, we have been taking them one at a time.
“Tonight it was Tranmere, next it is Orient, then Coventry.
“Every game is important.
“We needed three points tonight, we got them and Orient is as important as all the other games.”
James Tarkowski’s full post-match interview is available here for Bees Player subscribers.