Victory over Gillingham on Saturday could not have tasted much sweeter. As Brentford haven't had a chance to take on either of those twin sons of Satan, Fulham or Queens Park Rangers, in recent seasons we have been left scrabbling around to find a genuine local enemy.

Wycombe and Luton have variously been nominated, as have the Gills, but to my mind you can never replace the atmosphere of a proper derby game.

Yet it must be said we came pretty close on Saturday with Brentford and, at times, Gillingham supporters uniting to heap scorn upon the polished bald head of Mark Stimson.

The Gillingham manager (or at least he still was when we went to press) has joined that pantheon of weasels, Martin Rowlands, David Webb and Ron Noades, on the Griffin Park most hated list.

Stimson made a rod for his own with his well-documented and utterly pointless feud with Andy Scott, and I have rarely seen a crowd so deliriously happy at the misfortune of another human being. If he wasn't such a prat, you'd have felt sorry for him.

My friend Paul is a Gillingham supporter (I say friend, but it is more of a voluntary scheme in which I help a less fortunate member of society) and luckily for him he wasn't at the game.

It says something for how the years of supporting Brentford have taken their toll on me that, even when we were three-nil up at half-time, I was too scared to text him and gloat.

The problem was the voice, that could well have belonged to Leroy Rosenior, in my head whispering: “If you send that text, we'll almost certainly throw this lead away.”

Irrational, I know, but if you have ever supported a lower league club that has a tradition of thwarting expectation, then I'm sure you'll have a little empathy for my position.

It wasn't until Myles Weston put the fourth goal away with 10 minutes to go that I finally felt confident enough to start sending obnoxious texts to Paul and I'm not in the least bit ashamed to say it felt pretty good.

Brentford are on a fantastic run at the moment. Our excellent deadline day signings have boosted a fighting-fit squad and if we can keep the momentum up I don't see why we can't achieve a top ten finish. Inevitably, talk of the play-offs has begun but you won’t catch me spouting off about that unless we are in sixth place, eight points clear, with one game left to play.