After beating derby rivals Fulham 2-1 on Friday evening, Brentford moved within a point of the league leaders in the Championship standings.
Despite having to deal with the departure of head coach Uwe Rosler, who was dismissed from his position at Wigan Athletic last week, the Bees were able to secure automatic promotion from League One last season when they beat Preston North End on Good Friday. Back in the second-tier for the first time since 1992-93, though, many expected them to struggle.
But Mark Warburton’s side have been superb during the first half of the campaign, with their 2-1 win against the Cottagers – delivered courtesy of late goals from Harlee Dean and Jota – being their ninth maximum haul collection from 18 games. But although this leaves them a point behind the leaders, albeit having played a match more, their manager is refusing to get carried away.
“It’s 18 games into a 46-game season, we will take it one game at a time and the boys will enjoy this one,” said Warburton. “We have got a good squad of players, they work really hard and they deserve to be where they are. Harlee made the pass and continued his run. And it was a magnificent finish. That goal got the place erupting again and to get a late winner was tremendous.”
Since their 3-1 defeat at Bolton Wanderers last month, Brentford have now won four matches on the bounce. What makes this all the more impressive is the quality of their opponents during this sequence of victories, which include Derby (2-1), a 3-1 win at other promotion contenders Nottingham Forest, and winning by the odd goal in five on the road at capital rivals Millwall.
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