James Tarkowski would swap a scrappy 1-0 win for poor performances for the rest of the season, with Brentford’s promotion challenge in danger of fizzling out.
The Bees are now three points adrift of sixth spot and also have an inferior goal difference, meaning the final three games against Bolton, Reading and Wigan are must-wins.
Brentford’s form has been stuttering in recent weeks, a fabulous 4-1 win at Fulham aside, with missed chances and defensive lapses costing them points.
And Tarkowski, who still believes a play-off spot is achievable, would be content with playing worse and picking up the victories.
He said: “The play-offs are still on. There are four teams playing for two spots and we’ve got to do our best to get fifth or sixth.
“It’s crunch time with three games left. We want to get as many points as we can and hopefully be in that top six.
“We need to get a win. It’s the time of the season where performances don’t matter; it’s results. We’ll look to get the three points.
“I’ll take playing poorly over getting the win every day of the week and getting ourselves back up the table.”
The squad looked devastated after Tuesday night’s defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, rather than angry as it was after the 1-1 draw at Derby on Saturday, where they exchanged heated words.
Tarkowski said: “Nothing was really said in the dressing room on Tuesday.
“We know what had happened, while Derby was a big frustration as it was a big three points.
“We know what happened. We missed our chances and let a goal in.
“We can’t look at a performance as we didn’t perform badly that night.
“To cut a team open and have three or four one-on-ones, you can’t say we performed very poorly.”
Brentford host Bolton, who are essentially safe in the Championship, on Saturday and the defender knows they could pose a different challenge.
He said: “It’s tough. If teams are safe it can go one or two ways.
“They might not be bothered and be very lax or play with freedom.
“Sometimes, when you give players freedom they play at their best.
“We know if we play well nobody can deal with us, so we’ve got to turn up ourselves.”
