Smith dismayed after Brentford’s ‘worst performance’

Dean Smith branded Brentford’s lacklustre performance against Wolves as the worst of his tenure at Griffin Park.

Smith’s side produced a below-par display as they slid to a 2-1 defeat – despite leading until the last five minutes through Maxime Colin’s first-half goal.

The Bees boss declared: “We couldn’t pass water tonight. If you get outmanoeuvred tactically you can take that on the chin, but it was down to us – we were poor from start to finish.

“Norwich away (a 5-0 defeat in December) was bad, but that’s certainly the worst performance under me at Griffin Park – that’s for sure.

“Wolves were physical, they got the ball down the side and if it wasn’t down the side they competed and won second balls. I don’t think we won a header in midfield all night.

“We were poor on the ball and I don’t know why – it’s a group of players I’ve got a lot of belief in. We tried to rally them at half-time but there was no way back for us.”

Full-back Colin put Brentford ahead with a well-worked goal after half an hour, latching onto Konstantin Kerschbaumer’s back-heel and firing past Carl Ikeme.

The Bees were indebted to Dan Bentley for preserving their lead with a string of saves, but goals by Matt Doherty and Helder Costa inside the last five minutes deservedly secured the three points for Wolves.

The result leaves Brentford’s season in danger of stagnating as they remain 14th in the Championship table, with a trip to Burton Albion looming this weekend.

Smith added: “We don’t want the season to fizzle out – unfortunately tonight it looked the opposite and we have to get the players ready for a tough game against Burton.

“I’m glad we’ve got a game. I wouldn’t like to have gone into the international break on the back of that performance.”