Gray pep talk paid off – Bees boss

Brentford boss Mark Warburton revealed a pep talk with Andre Gray was behind the renewed confidence that saw the striker bag his first goal in nine league games.

The summer signing from Luton curled home the equaliser against Derby before Stuart Dallas scored an injury-time winner.

Warburton said: “I’m delighted for Andre, he could have had another one with the header [that hit the post].

“All strikers want to score goals. He was beating himself up in the week but we pulled him in for a private chat.

“He was playing confidence football last year and he’s done exceptionally well for us.

“He’s played more minutes than he could possibly have imagined and his fitness levels have improved dramatically That goal helps him and he’s smiling again.”

Warbuton was delighted with the performance after the break against the Championship pacesetters and said the result would send out a message.

He said: “The first 10 to 15 minutes we showed them a little bit too much respect. But in the second half we showed real tempo, intensity and quality.

“They’re a good team, Derby. How they lost that play-off final I’ll never know, they should have been Premier League.

“After [the 4-0 defeat at] Middlesbrough, people asked me what plan B was. Plan B is doing plan A better.

“Today was plan A working very well, and one of the best teams in the division had a very tough afternoon.”

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