Sam Saunders wants to return to Brentford’s starting eleven and hopes that he can play well enough to give new boss Dean Smith a selection headache.
The 32-year-old came on as a substitute for Sergi Canos in the 67th minute of Brentford’s 2-0 victory against MK Dons, making it three appearances from the bench in the Bees last four games.
And the midfield maestro wants to be getting as many minutes as possible now that he is edging closer to full fitness.
He said: “That’s three games out four that I’ve come on now.
I’ve had a couple of little knocks and stuff but I’m getting closer.
“I want to be starting and getting as much minutes as I can.
“I came on and didn’t do myself any harm and I’m edging back into fitness. It’s nice being back in and around it so hopefully there are more minutes to come.”
“I’ve had to wait my turn and bite my tongue and work hard but we’ve got so many players here who are playing well.
“It’s a case of whoever is playing well will get the minutes and at the minute everyone seems to be performing and giving the manager a headache.”
Saunders felt that he was not given a chance to get back into the side last season when he was injured, so chose to go on loan to Wycombe instead to get more game time under his belt.
He added: “I went on loan last year because I was eager to play football and I didn’t get too many chances after my injury.
“I didn’t really feel I got a chance when I came back from injury last time because I came back into a team that was really doing well so it was hard to get in which was unfortunate because at the time I got injured I was playing every weekend playing well.”
The midfielder could have played in all four of Brentford’s last four games, but a sending off for team-mate Harlee Dean in the game against Nottingham Forest put pay to that, with Saunders jokingly saying: “I was going to come on against Forest as well but then Harlee got sent off so I wasn’t speaking to him for a couple of days.
“I was just about to put my shirt on and the red card came out so Carsley had to put a centre half on and I was like ‘cheers mate.’”
