Bees boss backs Sawyers to silence doubters

Dean Smith has backed Romaine Sawyers to win over doubters after his vibrant, goalscoring contribution to Brentford’s 2-0 win over Leeds.

The Bees attacking midfielder was in the right place to rifle in the opening goal of the game in Tuesday night’s win, but it was only his third goal of the season, and not everyone appears convinced by him – judging by the groans he sometimes inspires.

“If he keeps performing like that, then the detractors will get less and less,” said the Brentford boss.

“You will always have some, but that’s the nature of football. Everyone has an opinion and everyone will have favourites. I grew up an Aston Villa fan and some players I liked and some I didn’t.

“The first 70 minutes on Saturday and against Leeds for 90 minutes, I thought he was excellent.”

Smith thought the Bees produced some of their best football of season against Leeds, given the quality of the opposition.

“I thought we were excellent at times,” he said. “The quality, the composure on the ball and the movement of the players were excellent.

“As good as we were in the first half, I thought we were very professional in the second half and it’s probably the first time this season I thought we looked like a group of men, for a relatively young squad.”