Dean Smith will weigh up allowing Reece Cole to go out on loan to get a taste of regular first team football.

The midfielder has been one of the standout players of Brentford's pre-season campaign but, with the likes of Ryan Woods, Josh McEachran and co in the squad, regular minutes will be hard to come by.

Cole would have gone to Portugual to face Benfica B but, with Nico Yennaris, battling a hamstring injury was kept back and scored a fine free kick after coming off the bench late on.

The Bees would consider a loan but only if it was a better move for Cole than just playing in the B team.

Smith said: “We kept him here as we knew Nico was struggling and we couldn't play Kamo. He was always going to get minutes with us and didn't go to Benfica.

“The B team went there and won 6-0. We've got competitive games and our players will get better for that. We'll only put players out on loan if we feel they're not going to play for the B team.”