Dean Smith felt his Brentford side didn't deserve to be beaten by Cardiff with the Bluebirds winning 2-0 in the Welsh capital.

Neil Warnock's side took the lead through Joe Ralls early on as the visitors failed to deal with a long throw before the Bees missed some golden opportunities, including Neal Maupay producing a miss of the season contender, and Danny Ward made it 2-0 before half-time.

Brentford huffed and puffed in the second half, with Lasse Vibe and Sergi Canos having shots cleared off the line, but it was too little too late.

Smith said after the game: “It was a game where I don't believe we should have been beaten. We didn't take our chances and defended poorly for their goals.

“We dropped below our standards when they got the second goal but after half time we started well and created chances but didn't put the ball in the net.”

Neal Maupay

Maupay's miss will be one that you see on a football bloopers DVD that you pick up in a bargain bin at the supermarket.

The Frenchman knows he should have scored, Smith knows that and everyone in attendance will as well.

“He knows he should have scored and 999 times he does. He's had one of those moments. He got into goalscoring positions really well. I felt it was one of those days for him,” Smith added.

“I don't think unlucky comes to mind. It's one of those things. He'll be thinking about it and he knows what he was thinking at that moment.

“He came out and was excellent. He created three or four chances but I felt it was one of those days for him and they got some great blocks in.

“For me, what was disappointing was the ball was on the pitch for 40 minutes. You shouldn't have players running to get the ball. I don't blame them but the officials have to do something about it.”

The head coach didn't say much to his squad after the defeat, preferring to let the dust settle, rather than expressing frustrations.

Smith explained: “I said go and get a shower and let's go. We can't change what's happened. All you end up doing is let your frustrations out.

“They know they dropped below their standards. On 95 minutes they're still chasing and that's the character.”

He added: “Part of their armoury is the long throw and we spoke about one person going for the first ball and we had four.

“I think if it was still 1-0 we'd have created another chance and scored. We didn't get over the line to put the ball in the back of the net.”