Brentford midfielder Ryan Woods believes his side are now capable of achieving a top ten finish after a morale-boosting win against Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday evening.
The former Shrewsbury man explained just how much the mood in the dressing room has improved after stringing together back-to-back wins against Nottingham Forest and Bolton – both in the last four days - for first time since Lee Carsley’s short tenure at the end of 2015.
And the squad are now looking up, rather than down, going into the final weeks of the season.
Woods said: “The mood in the dressing room is obviously a lot better than it was. We were starting to look behind us, but it’s really nice to see that bigger gap [between the relegation zone and safety] starting to appear now."
The Bees were nine points off the Championship relegation places heading into the tie, but a resounding win coupled with MK Dons defeat to Wolves has left Dean Smith’s side 12 points from the drop zone and all but quelled the incessant relegation fears of recent weeks.
Woods provided the assist for Nico Yennaris’ second goal in two games, and now has his sights firmly set on winning the game in hand away to Hull on 26 April in order to finish as high up the table as possible.
He added: “We’ve just been saying that if we win our game in hand we are only going to be four points off a top ten spot, so I definitely think we’re still in with a shout of that.
“We’ve just got to be looking at what’s going on above us now and see if we can catch those teams above us, because our aim from here on in has got to be a top ten finish."
The 22-year-old has made 34 league appearances for Brentford since joining from Shrewsbury Town in September 2015, scoring one goal.
