Dean Smith believes Neal Maupay will score a hatful of goals for Brentford as he backed the Frenchman to get out of his shooting slump.

The striker has missed key chances since earning a spot in the starting XI with some inspired cameos from the bench.

And he cut a frustrated figure after the 2-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday where he missed three good chances before hitting the post with the last kick of the game.

But Smith has been impressed with his all-round workrate and his efforts to create chances.

In battle: Neal Maupay

Smith said: “The other side of it is he's made some great runs to get into those position.

“The defenders have made some good blocks and the goalkeepers have made some good saves as well.

“You can't lay the blame on one player who a few of the chances have gone to. Josh Clarke had a great chance at Villa.

“Ollie Watkins, Romaine Sawyers and Nico Yennaris have had chances. Neal is a player we feel will keep developing and will score a hatful of goals at this club.”

Strikers are judged primarily on goals and a forward who scores half of his from the penalty spot can be seen as a superior player to one who has less in total but none from 12 yards.

Maupay knows this and Smith revealed that he is normally 'angry' if he is not finding the net.

He added: “It's normal for him. If he hasn't scored a lot of goals in training, he's angry. He's got a hunger and desire to score goals.

“We've got other players who will be hungry to score goals as well. You don't find many centre forwards who aren't annoyed if they're not scoring.

“They want to score goals. They get judged on that, unfairly at times when they're making assists and runs for other players.”