Brentford manager Uwe Rosler believes his side have the psychological advantage over Doncaster ahead of their promotion-deciding clash at Griffin Park.
A win for the third-placed Bees would see them reach the second tier for the first time in 20 years and stun the division’s season-long favourites by knocking them into the play-offs.
The South Yorkshire club, who were relegated from the Championship last term, blew the chance to clinch promotion last weekend and slipped behind Bournemouth into second place.
“We see this as the chance of a lifetime. It is a golden opportunity in which we have it in our own hands and anything can happen.” – Uwe Rosler
And Rosler believes that hiccup has given Brentford the upper hand.
He said: “There is only one team that it would be damaging for not to win automatic promotion and that is Doncaster.
“They have come from the Championship, they have a squad full of Championship players, they have a significantly higher budget than we have, they were favourites to go up and they have been in that top position for a long time.
“You can only be up there that long with real quality, but they had the chance last week to finish the job off and they missed that chance so there is more pressure on them than us.
“We have the advantage because we have to win. We are a team that find it better to attack than defend.
TOP OF LEAGUE ONE
1. Bournemouth 82 points
2. Doncaster 81 points
3. Brentford 79 points
“Our strength is not the mentality to defend a 1-0 lead. We have to go out and score the first and the second and the third. Attack is the best form of defence in the way we play.”
Rosler began the season hoping his players could secure a top-six finish and try their luck in the play-offs.
Now he has urged them to seize their chance to write their name into Brentford folklore by winning automatic promotion.
The German declared: “We see this as the chance of a lifetime. It is a golden opportunity in which we have it in our own hands and anything can happen.
“If you’d have asked me at the start of the season what is realistic I’d have said the play-offs.
“But now we are there fighting for direct promotion so we are in a better position psychologically than they [Doncaster] are.
“We are the challengers. They are the established team that cannot afford to lose.”
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This post was last modified on 27/04/2013