Boss Andy Scott believes Brentford’s first league win in nearly a month on Saturday was born out of hard work on the training ground.
First half goals from striker Gary Alexander and a rare Toumani Diagouraga strike gave the Bees a 2-1 triumph over Charlton Athletic on the day Griffin Park honoured the club’s all-time leading goalscorer Jim Towers.
It ended a run of four games without a win as Brentford have slipped to the foot of the League One table having finished ninth last season.
And the manager insists the commitment of his players to right the wrongs of a disappointing start to the campaign was never in question.
“I’ve never been able to point the finger at anyone and say they have not been giving everything for the team,” he said.
“If you’ve got that you’ve got half a chance.
“We worked ever so hard at Brighton, but conceded a sloppy goal. Last year we were getting away with that at times.
“We finished ninth because we had a few strokes of fortune along the way and we haven’t had any of those so far this season.
“But you make your own luck and we’ve worked hard on the training ground. We believe in what we’re doing and we showed that in the first half. We could have had more than two.”
And he singled out defenders Karleigh Osborne and Leon Legge for showing more commitment than most as the Bees battled to hold on to three points in the face of a second-half Addicks fightback.
“Karleigh has been terrific all season and Legge was excellent last year and has found himself back in the side. He relishes a challenge like that,” he added.
“They give everything and that’s all you can ask. They put their bodies on the line and win tackles.
“Karleigh’s tackle in front of the dugouts with five minutes to go really got the crowd lifted and us lifted.”
Diagouraga notched what proved to be the winner with his first goal for the club - and his first in nearly 17 months - and Scott hopes he can become more of a threat.
“It is something we’ve worked on in training. We don’t want our front players to be too isolated,” said the manager.
“It looked as if everything Bully and I had worked on in training had been taken on. You’ve got to take your hats off to the lads for understanding it and believing in it and when it comes off it is very nice.”
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