Mark Warburton reckons Brentford’s unshakable belief has been the key to their success in the Championship this season.
The Bees booked a play-off spot with a 3-0 victory over Wigan Atheltic thanks to goals from Alex Pritchard, Jota and Andre Gray as other results went their way.
Victory over the Latics sees the Bees finish an outstanding campaign in fifth spot and sets up a shootout with Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough.
Brentford are now just three matches away from the Premier League, an unlikely scenario at the start of term, with the club only having been promoted from League one last year.
But Warburton never doubted the ability of his squad and thinks a strong response to a couple of early setbacks in the campaign gave them the platform to aim high.
“Belief is the key thing,” he explained. “I said after Charlton, the first game of the season, that we lacked some belief.
“Then we went to Bournemouth, who we said would be a definite top-six side, and in the last half hour we were excellent.
“We lost 1-0 but created chance after chance after chance, and that gave them the belief.
“The players are fearless, they tasted success last year and want more of it and they’re really well marshalled by the experienced pros.
“The season is far from over yet and hopefully there’s three massive games coming up.”
Brentford have a tight-knit group of players at Griffin Park and Warburton thinks having a small squad has also played its part in pushing them into the play-offs.
“You look at how many players Burnley used last year,” he added. “The smaller, tighter squad gets that unity. They’re all hungry.
“Of course if you have injuries then that’s something you can’t control.
“But too many players not playing causes you a problem. There’s dissension in the ranks and the intensity in training drops.
“It’s human nature, they’re professional athletes and they want to play football.”
