Triumphant Brentford boss hails players
Manager Mark Warburton paid tribute to Brentford’s young squad after promotion to the Championship was sealed amid jubilant scenes at Griffin Park.
Alan Judge’s first-half penalty clinched a 1-0 win against Preston, with defeats for Rotherham and Leyton Orient ensuring the Bees will play in the second tier for the first time in 21 years.
A year on from the last-gasp penalty miss against Doncaster by Marcello Trotta which cost them promotion, Brentford were able to celebrate a superb triumph.
And Warburton declared: “It’s tremendous. All credit to the players.
“After the disappointment of last season other sides in that situation have struggled, so to have that level of consistency is fantastic.
“We learned from last year. People like Jake Bidwell – 19 or 20 years old – Marcello Trotta, Adam Forshaw, they’ve responded really well.
“We’ve also responded really well to disappointments this season, like the Wolves game [a 3-0 home defeat] where we didn’t perform. The way they bounced back, I’m delighted for them.
“You’ve got to think about what we suffered against Doncaster and then at Wembley in the play-off final. To come back in that way is tremendous.
“You look at other teams that lost in the play-offs, Watford and Northampton, and it’s hard to fight back. Our players did.”
Warburton also believes he already has the nucleus of a capable Championship side and will not need to make major changes over the summer.
“All I keep hearing about is the players we can bring in, but don’t forget we’ve got high-quality players here,” he said.
“We’ve got good young ones and the right balance. We will bring in one or two, we’ll need to, but the squad is in great shape.
“Last year there was talk of it being the best chance to go up in terms of a perceived weaker division and it was supposed to be harder this year.
“I said from day one I believed in the squad – and they weren’t cheap words. I know the squad and believed in them. They’ve got the rewards and I’m so pleased for them.”
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