Brentford’s strength in depth show they have the quality to challenge on two fronts in final months of the season

Brentford made nine changes from their Carabao Cup semi final defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, but this didn’t stop them making it through to the fourth round of the FA Cup as they saw off Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough 2-1 at the Brentford Community Stadium on Saturday evening.

This allowed plenty of fringe players to be given an opportunity with much of the first team being afforded a rest with a midweek clash against Bristol City and trip to Berkshire to face Reading upcoming.

There was also a rare change in the dugout with first team head coach Thomas Frank being absent following a positive COVID-19 test – this allowed Brentford B head coach Neil MacFarlane to step in and lead the first team for the first time and he done very well in his first assessment.

Due to a ten day isolation for Frank, it means MacFarlane will likely be in the dugout for both of the next two matches against Bristol City and Reading which may mean you see some more of the Bees’ youngsters involved who excelled in the cup win.

The club handed debuts to Alex Gilbert and Lewis Gordon from the B side, Fin Stevens earned a first start for the club in the midfield in what was a very young, but exciting Brentford team that saw off Middlesbrough.

Halil Dervişoğlu and Saman Ghoddos both excelled on the evening, each of them scoring and picking up an assist, their first goals for the club which highlighted the depth that the West London club have got in reserve with both players getting a rare opportunity to shine from the start.

This was a hugely positive evening for the coaching staff at the club and will give them confidence, knowing that they can trust these players moving forward and all will be able to step up when needed as the club look to continue their push towards promotion.

Everyone knows that having a big squad is a vital part of being able to sustain a promotion push and whilst it is has largely been the same group of players who have played when fit, it does give the club some confidence that they’ve got plenty of options in a number of positions moving forward into further rounds of the FA Cup too.

The Bees currently lie fourth in the Championship, only behind Bournemouth on goal difference who sit in third and lie two points behind Swansea City who currently occupy the second automatic promotion position but the Bees do have a game in hand, as do Bournemouth.

With the season nearly at the halfway point for Brentford, it has allowed the London club put a real strong run of results together which has seen them taste defeat just once in their last 17 matches – that defeat came against a full strength Tottenham Hotspur in midweek.

There is still a long way to go this season but their win over Middlesbrough will have given everyone around the club more faith moving forward as they look to go a step further than last year and make the Premier League for the first time.

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