Brentford FC striker Nathan Elder won't change his nononsense approach despite topping League Two's bad-boy charts for red and yellow cards.

The former Brighton and Billericay target man returned to the fold as a substitute in Saturday's win over Chester City and Tuesday night's draw at Accrington after serving a four-match ban.

Elder's red card against Notts County last month was his second in-a-row following his dismissal at Gillingham in December - more than any other player in the division - not to mention five bookings.

And while accepting he's no longer an automatic choice after the arrival of Jordan Rhodes from Ipswich, he won't be compromise his playing style as he fights for his first-team spot.

He said: "I think I'm top of the bad boys' list, but I don't think I need to change my style of play.

"I've never been sent off for it before, so I'm not going to focus on the way I jump too much.

"If I had a ref coming up to me every game and saying 'look you've got to stop doing that', then I'd think about changing my style, but they're not."

In fact, Brentford's number nine thinks his rough-and-ready approach gives him the edge over loan star Rhodes and Charlie MacDonald, who bagged hat-tricks on successive Saturdays during his absence.

"In this league, different teams will cope with the way we play differently," he said.

"The type of play I've got, which is very aerial and very physical, is something I have that the other two haven't, but they've got skills that I haven't got.

"When we go to certain teams we're going to need different tactics. We won at Shrewsbury, but went to Morecambe and it was a different story.

"The manager can go into his office and think we need these two types of play, and no matter what team we're playing, use that to our advantage and switch it round a bit."

Meanwhile, Elder has been the subject of a bit of ribbing from his fellow strikers, who've formed their own first-half hattricks club.

Elder joked: "Jordan and Charlie Mac have got us bundles of goals, and I'm hoping I can be part of that.

"There's a joke going on about the first-half hat-trick club, and I said to them 'where do I sign up?' I want to be involved in that.

"But if you don't have competition, you're never going to push each other. All of us know there's only two spots but three contenders, and I think that attitude is what will push us up."

Elder will be looking to stake a claim for a start when Brentford host Port Vale on Saturday.