Brentford defender Chris Mepham has explained how he is aiming to ‘kick on’ and impress this season ahead of his debut season with the club’s new B Team.

After making the step up from under-18 to under-21 level midway through the campaign just gone, centre-back Mepham was rewarded with a two-year contract in February, prior to the completion of his scholarship.

An early taste of first-team experience came when he was named as the 19th man in the 3-1 loss to Derby on 20 February, but friendlies against Kaiserslautern and Peterborough afforded the 18 year-old invaluable time to prove what he is made of.

With first-team manager Dean Smith watching on with prying eyes, Mepham felt he did well in his 17 minutes at the heart of defence after replacing John Egan - having only returned from the B team’s Denmark training camp that morning.

He said: “It was pleasing today. I only got 20 minutes or so, but it is important that when you come on, you stamp your authority on the game – I think I did that and it was a great experience.

Chris Mepham

“It was another good experience in Denmark; we played FC Midtjylland and Odense, so it was good to test ourselves against different styles of football and see how we could react to different teams”.

Mepham lined up alongside Harlee Dean against the 2.Bundesliga side on Saturday and told GetWestLondon how the partnership between the pair fills him with confidence.

He added: “Harlee is a leader, he’s made a lot of appearances for the club so it’s good for him to talk to you on the pitch – he gives you confidence that you can do well.

“I want to keep focused on myself, kick on again and as I’ve said before, the rest is out of my control.

“I want to keep working hard and then if and when an opportunity arises, I’m absolutely going to reach for it”.